Bouts of tiredness and having difficulty getting going

Thank you, Eileen. I think I will see how this week goes, though it's another busy one. It may just be that I am doing too much for the dosage. I have no pain so I don't think it's the PMR. I was fine on 2.5. Life is just getting in the way of resting enough and at the moment I have no control over it unless I say no and I would feel a bit of a wimp and would be letting others down. I know!!!!!! When I reached 1.5, previously  the pain returned so it's not that problem. I shall try to rest a bit though fatigue dictates.

It's unlikely that many people will see your comment unless they are already following this thread - do post it as a new topic!

Good to hear how you are getting on - how long is it since you stopped the Actemra?

Hope your day went well.  Regarding salt, you may actually need more salt if you have always had a very low salt diet as I have.  Turns out I may have become quite severely salt deficient.  Salt is, I think, one of the elements used for good thyroid function.  It is also an essential electrolyte, and pred does upset our electrolyte balance, although I'm not sure how.  Since starting to take in more salt a number of my symptoms have vanished.  First to go, a while ago when I increased salt intake a tiny bit, was fluttery heart rhythm.  Recently  it was suggested to me that morning headaches which persisted through the day despite taking painkillers could be due to low salt.  I was advised to taste a little salt and if it tasted good I needed more.  I did this, and found it tasted delicious!  No morning headache the next morning.  And it's now been a couple of months and I have not had a morning headache.  I also found that my lower legs which would get very painful when at rest, enough that they'd wake me up at night although resolve by morning, this pain went away, and both the leg pain and the morning headaches had been increasing in frequency and severity over the past few years.  i realized that because I was eating so few prepared foods now and we always cook low salt I really had become deficient.  The way I decide if I need more salt on a given evening is to taste a few grains.  Usually now they taste disgusting, so I know I'm okay, but with the hot weather I've found a few times the salt tastes really nice, so have more, until it suddenly becomes unappealing again.  I wish this technique worked with salty foods but it doesn't .  Just the plain table salt.  I have also kept an eye on my blood pressure which had a few months ago become a bit high, nearly into the red range although my doctor seemed to think it okay.  Of course she's only been my doctor since PMR and doesn't know my long history of low blood pressure.  In any event my blood pressure has now returned to what has always been normal for me!

So your salt craving could be as simple as needing more salt.  Unlike sugar, which has no such built-in restriction, you won't eat too much salt taking it the way I was advised to.  When you've had enough it quite suddenly becomes unpleasant.

Thank you, Anhaga. Grandchildren staying so days are busy but I am managing to nod off at odd times. I wonder if you may be right about the salt as I don't add it to food and don't put on the table. I will follow your advice and see if it works. My chances of getting near my iPad at present to reply is variable as it's pretty full on and I have other family members who require assistance due to ill health. The problem with PMR is, as many on this forum know,  we often look deceptively well and people assume accordingly. 

I appreciate your update on the waiting times and how you have dealt with the fatigue. I suspect that I am probably going to increase a little. I'll see how I am at the end of this week when an added stress  will have passed. I hope you don't have to wait too much longer for the test. I think you are possibly not in the UK going by the time on your post. Best wishes for a successful dosage to cope with the fatigue.