HOMEOPATHY FOR PMR?

Thank you Eileen.  Can homeopathic remedies be taken alongside steroids?  I'm currently down to 5mg (started at 20mg almost a year ago) but am finding that the lower I get the worse I feel in the morning ie achy, particularly across tops of shoulders and lower back. It  doesn't feel like PMR pain but makes doing anything, even the simplest of chores, a real struggle - paracetamol helps to a certain degree.  By about mid afternoon I feel more or less 'normal'.  When I saw my GP last week for my 3 month review he didn't seem to think this was due to my thyroid rather than the PMR (my thyroxine level was low and I've been borderline underactive for years) so he's put me on a very low dose of thyroxine - started about 6 days ago but haven't felt any better so far.  What do you think?

Being scientific about it, I could say since there is nothing in a homeopathic remedy anyway to interact with the steroids so go ahead. 

You must remember though that you aren't reducing relentlessly to zero - you are looking for the lowest dose that manages the symptoms as well as the starting dose did and to have got to 5mg in under a year is pretty good. 5mg is a low dose, anything under about 7 or 8mg is less corticosteroid than the body produces daily anyway. So you could be ahead of the curve on the PMR activity front although if paracetamol helps it is less likely to be the PMR causing the aches.

If you have got to 5mg there are a few things at play - another being the fact that your adrenal glands are starting to have to produce cortisol again after it not being required while you were at a higher dose. This is a very complex feedback set-up involving the pituitary gland, the adrenal glands, the hypothalamus and thyroid amongst others - they all have to get their jobs sorted out and if one is wrong the others struggle to sort their job out. 

If your thyroid is underactive it will take a month to 6 weeks for the level to build up to normal with the supplementation of thyroxine. This is because you take the thyroxine and within a few hours a lot is excreted from the body so you aren't just topping up your natural level immediately, it creeps up over time. They don't start you on a higher dose because a big change can be very unpleasant as suddenly your body experiences a much higher level than it is used to. It can cause high blood pressure and even heart attacks in some people if they have been very low for very long! 

If I were you I would give the thyroxine a chance before adding in something else to the picture - you wouldn't know if it was your belief in the homeopathy making the change or if the thyroxine is the right approach. Just be patient - and in the meantime, don't reduce the pred any further. One top PMR rheumy likes to keep patients at 5mg for several months before reducing further - for the reasons I mentioned above. It seems to make the rest of the journey easier.

For years, thinking it would help, I avoided nightshade foods.  Made no difference either to the osteoarthritis I had been diagnosed with (nearly 30 years ago now) nor the PMR I developed a couple of years ago.  As a vegetarian I've no intention of giving up my main source of protein, legumes.  Why are they considered bad?  The food change I find has made a difference is avoiding wheat, just having it occasionally as a treat, not as a mainstay.  No, as far as I know I am not gluten intolerant.  There's something else about modern wheat which isn't good for us.

i can say exactly the same as Anhaga - and I also tried eliminating nightshades and very rarely ate legumes anyway for some considerable time. All it did was restrict my diet considerably. It made no difference to the PMR. Nor did not drinking alcohol or eliminating dairy. As I have said elsewhere this week, gluten-free won't cure anything except coeliac disease. I was gluten-free when my PMR symptoms developed - it was the only way to be wheat-free and I had developed an allergy to the starch in wheat, not the gluten. If gluten-free makes any difference it is most likely to be because you have removed modern highly commercialised wheat from your diet.

But beware gluten-free baked goods when on pred - they are extremely high in calories and carbohydrate dense. Especially with sugar.

Yes agree with Eileen  Gluten Free baked products are full of sugar , high in calories.. Carbohydrates ... and they are expensive too..

I only mentioned it because so many people think that "gluten-free" means "healthy" and really that is so far from the truth if you go to the Free-from aisle! I use it to get wheat-free stuff at times - especially when we eat out.

Mind you - I think Free-from jaffa cakes are better than real ones...

I have made pastry with Gluten Free flour... I really love the taste.. made it with Coconut oil...  ( MUST ADMIT IT IS EATEN QUICKLY)   Coconut oil is really good for cooking.. it is said that it can withstand heat very well. so i enjoy chips now again!  Better for our inner... lOVE IT ON MY FACE..   just small amount... 

Fair enough.  But try cooking beans with some freshly grated ginger.  And I need the calories as i'm not getting any from meat.  I thought maybe there was supposed to be a substance in legumes which was "bad" for PMR?

I swear by them now . have used them for the last 20 yrs..  you did seem to be spending an awful lot of money.... But good for the Pred.. it seems to work for people.. and that is the most important thing..