Bruising and blood pressure.

Thankyou for responding. I have tried ramipril but they gave me breathing problems and a continuous cough, as did Lisinopril. I have not heard of Natrilix. I will ask my gp about it at my check up next week. Sorry to hear about your arms. That must be awful. We have bought a memory foam matress topper which has helped me a lot. I also have an orthopaedic memory foam pillow which is heaven for my shoulders. I think they should be given out on the national health to all pmr patients! 

I have just returned to the computer, exhausted after changing the bed and washing up. I apologised to you (out loud i may add)! and grabbed afore mentioned stool for my legs! Yes, it is my gp trying out all blood pressure tablets known to man. Forgive my ignorance but what sort of expert do I need for the continuous high blood pressure? I do have to add that it started pre-pred. I will certainly mention the chair. Sounds wonderful. I will google manual lymph drainage and do some research. I still need to do the ironing but am learning to do it in short bursts rather than saving it up and doing a marathon like I used to! I'm afraid I can't use pressure stockings because of my spinal condition. Anything tight around my leg is too painful. I have even had to change the type of jeans that I wear. This weather is great, as I can stick to dresses and loose linen trousers. Thankyou for your advice. Most helpful, as always. take care, Debbie

You may do any one of those tasks - but preferably NOT all on one day and absolutely never one after the other! I used to take 3 goes to change the bedlinen. I still often take 2 - sheet and pillow cases in one go, duvet covers second. And I have single duvets - I couldn't even begin to wrestle with a double even now. I have 2 single foam mattresses so they are light and for a long time used single sheets. I have graduated to a double bottom sheet. 

Ironing? If you must iron - do only what has to be done, teatowels for example DON'T! I love the feel of freshly ironed bedding - but for a long time that went the way of all flesh believe me. And whoever it is who wants/needs ironed whatevers can learn to do them themselves. Even my husband can iron a shirt - I can't watch, it takes him about 10 mins but he can do it if push comes to shove.

Washing up? Get a dishwasher. Or tell the rest of the household to wash their own. Or get paper plates...

You MUST rest, you MUST avoid the things that make it all worse. If you continue to carry on as normal you will be ill for far longer. "Lizzie Ellen" on another forum decided after 4 years of pain and yoyoing her dose, flare after flare, decided in spring last year to turn into a Precious Princess. Then one day she got up and felt ... NORMAL! She is still reducing very slowly so isn't off pred yet but like me (I gave up a lot of things 2 years ago) she feels well and energetic and all sorts of things have disappeared. We still haven't admitted we could possibly do housework though ;-) . My husband (who won't do cleaning) chooses to pay for a cleaner - not every week, just every couple of months to do heavy stuff. And I ignore the dust. If someone doesn't like it they can have a duster any time.

I know that for some people there isn't the option of a dishwasher, a cleaner. In that case you must get the family to help or break it down into very small bites. Ironing in particular is bad - the arteries supplying your arms are inflamed and the blood supply to your arms is not as good as it should be. Doing repetitive or sustained actions requires lots of oxygen - and the muscles aren't getting enough. Ironing: sustained action holding a heavy iron and keeping your fingers in one position and the sweeping action pushing the iron back and forwards. Cleaning windows - the same. Washing up, holding the sponge and the item you are washing, and exerting pressure to get that last burnt on bit from the grill pan. Everything that will go in the dishwasher goes in there. I had one friend years ago who put EVERYTHING in the dishwasher. If it wasn't clean after 3 tries she chucked it away! I don't go as far as that. But line grill/roasting pans with foil - chuck that away. Baking parchment, soak things - all sorts of ways to make it easier. My ironing board is permanently up in front of the TV, I do a few bits - and then sit down with my feel UP. Then I do a bit more - rinse and repeat.

To live well with PMR you have to learn a new way of life and it s probably difficult when all  your life you have done it this way. But the sooner you learn the sooner you will feel closer to normal and feel life is worth living. And be much happier and less irritable - because pred, pain and tiredness all make anyone bad tempered!!

Uncontrollable BP belongs in the hands of a specialist. I am under a cardiologist and that would be a good place to start - if they rule out the vascular problems they can look for other causes. Raised BP is a symptom of something else and handing out tablets willy-nilly won't identify that. I do get cheesed off with GPs who can't admit their limitations and don't use their skills to decide who to send their patients to. By the time you are on pred, calcium and vit D supplements, probably omeprazole or something - and then they start you on BP meds, you have no idea what side effect is what and what is interacting with what. 

Right - I'll stop ranting for now :-)

Eileen

One cause of returned pain is steroid withdrawal rather than the PMR flaring - raising the pred again will obviously deal with that but it is better to reduce in very small steps. If you areon white pred tablets they come in 1mg as well so  you can reduce just one mg at a time. We also suggest spreading each reduction over much longer, taking a few weeks to do it. There are a couple of suggested schemes, I have one, MrsK has another. They do the same, just are slightly differently mapped out.

One of the typical things about PMR is that 15 to 20mg is usually enough to control the pain so needing a higher dose would ring alarm bells for some doctors. There are other things that respond to higher doses which don't respond to the lower doses usually used. It is of course possible to have something else, such as myofascial pain syndrome, clouding the picture and then more targetted treatment such as cortisone injections or massage/mobilisation by a physio can be useful.

However, your rheumy obviously thinks it is the PMR if he's told you to have a blast at the inflammation with 25 and then reduce to 20. If you were OK below 20 before that is probably fair enough but if when you reduce to 20 you have an immediate return of pain try going in 2,5mg steps over a few days. You GP may let you have a prescription for 1mg tablets to make it a bit simpler.

I had to give up gardening - and now we have a balcony with OP's gardens and the mountains. They do for me - and no lawns to mow! I also had the problem with finger joints feeling as if they'd got stuck. After several months on pred it did improve though. Still happens once in while.

Thankyou for your reply and you are welcome. We all try to support each other on here and some days, I don't know where I would be without you all!

Debbie

I suggested to my paramedic daughter she should get one for occasions she is on stand-by at the station. They used to have reclining chairs but all have been broken and they aren't allowed to take camp beds in - they might go to sleep and that isn't approved of. The gravity chair would be perfect - she did have a look on e-bay but no doubt that was as far as it got. 

I will definately look into this chair thing. Ha Ha, Cats. I love 'em!