Achilles and Pred
Posted , 11 users are following.
After three wonderful days walking about 11km/day in Aus Alps I developed a soreness in left achilles tendon. Ankle became swollen. Just the last couple of km. Now very difficult to walk. Hobbling comes to mind.
More medical investigation next week - a "how bad is it" investigation.
Friend tells me a side effect of pred can be weakened tendons, particularly achilles. Is that likely? How bad can it be? How do I get to walk again? Anyone else its happened to?
I'm currently at 3.5mg/day pred and falling.
I guess just another hole in the roller coaster of life!
2 likes, 11 replies
EileenH julian.
Posted
Pred can lead to achilles tendonitis on its own though it isn't particularly common I don't think. Medrol is the corticosteroid that is most likely to do it and even more likely to do it if you are given a quinolone antibiotic. That happened to me.
I understood from the literature that you don't have to have taken them at the same time and the tendency remains for some considerable time after stopping either of them - so a history of either is relevant.
I hobbled straight to A&E after the GP went "Ooohhh, I've heard of it but never seen that before..." and the lovely orthopod took one look and agreed with my suspicion. Warning: be very careful. If the tendon is swollen it is very delicate and a trip could result in considerable damage. I was immediately given a boot and crutches to reduce the risk. Waiting for achilles tendonitis to go away is bad enough - the rehab after repairing a torn one is far worse.
EileenH
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julian. EileenH
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Its a bit embarrassing to me to call our Alps Alps though. I was quite pleased with myself at hardly noticing the little bit of "up". Alps in the sense of high (we were about 1300m) and pasture rather than those sharp sticking up mountain thingoes formed with the help of glaciers. This stretch formed from granite.
I'd half guessed I was in a bit of trouble in that last couple of km. "Bother", as they say. Ultrasound on Tuesday will hopefully give me an indication of how bad. In the meantime I am being very careful.
EileenH julian.
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Danrower julian.
Posted
Ultrasound to rule out blood clot, MRI determined a trout sized hematoma in my calf, from an apparent tear in muscle and/or tendon. Had to elevate calf for 6 weeks while the hematoma was very slowly absorbed, circulation restored. I think that set me back about 4 months on my road to remission. I believe it was referred to as "compartment syndrome" as the pressure in the calf increased from the internal bleeding restricted flow contained by fascia.
I was just starting activity after a year of forced sedentary lifestyle, and I stressed something in the calf that was not ready. Please be careful, as the incline and stress that resulted in the injury was NOT strenuous or extreme, but was too much for me at that stage of my recovery.
FYI, down to 2.75 mg pred, riding 20 miles road bike, almost 2 years from initial PMR and feeling almost normal, for a near 66 year old geezer
Please be careful, and take your time. We had a discussion about time that was removed, no?
Good luck, Julian!
julian. Danrower
Posted
I'm also 66 and have begun to feel "normal" again. Hopefully just a minor setback though it will take some time after my tendon recovers to trust it.
I recall our removed time discussion. Just getting interesting. I'll put my lost time in my time store room so I can retrieve it for use later ..... maybe wishful thinking, though at least now we can have usefully big enough batteries to store some or our previously lost solar electricity.
A year ago I didn't have the energy or inclination to walk in the hills. I don't think I take easily to enforced inactivity when I feel like I'm raring to go..
EileenH julian.
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Susanne_M_UK julian.
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It was hot and I had been walking (not a particularly long distance) in flat sandals, which had never bothered my feet before, so I imagine is was due to the weakness in my muscles caused by pred of course. Or I was just plain unlucky!
It was absolutely crippling and I hobbled with a stick for weeks. Did regular foot exercises, wore a support foot sock and it eventually went away.
So whether it was caused by the pred effect, who knows, but I suspect it was.
julian. Susanne_M_UK
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julian.
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Swelling has faded. Stil taking one step at a time. Tiring and uncomfortable but steadily improving.
Looks like hopefully just a minor speed bump in the roller coaster. I'll use the boots more often than the shoes ....
FlipDover_Aust julian.
Posted