Posted , 8 users are following.
I've been on Pred for 13 months, tapering to 3mgs. I had a fall at my daughter's wedding just over a week ago bruising my left elbow and thigh badly. Since then I have felt generally unwell, extremely fatigued but more to the point, I feel as if I'm going through a flare, some pain in shoulders and thighs, etc.and have upped the Pred to 5 mgs.
I'm wondering if the fall could be the cause of the flare.
0 likes, 14 replies
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mimi1950 linfran
Posted
For me, an injury caused a flare. Anything out of the ordinary requires a hike of pred apparently.
The experts will soon tell you the specifics. Hope you are feeling better at 5 mgs. To get to 3 mgs in 13 months is pretty good, I think.
I'm sure you'll soon be back on 3.5 mgs
linfran mimi1950
Posted
Thanks Mimi. That's interesting and dies make sense. I've never been referred to a specialist, or did you mean the clever people on here?
mimi1950 linfran
Posted
Yes, I meant the people on here that are experts on PMR/ GCA. For me, rheumatologists have been no help, I have been following instructions on how to manage PMR exclusively on the two forums. It's really a godsend. Eileen, for example is an expert and has had the disease for many years . She is more knowledgeable on PMR than most rheumatalgists.
linfran mimi1950
Posted
I couldn't agree more.
ptolemy linfran
Posted
margaret89358 linfran
Posted
Hi linfran I fell in the shower on Thursday and now have a stiff neck and painful shoulders, I Also have a severe pain on the back of the right side of my head. I had come back from Cornwall a couple of days earlier in the week and felt fantastic. We walked for a couple of hours each morning and as others on the forum who have had PMR longer than me I rested in the afternoon. I reduced tom11mg on 1 August dropping 1mg each calendar month. What I am getting at is I feel like all the good work I have done to keep well has been undone. My hips backs of my legs to my knees, not being able to get off the chair unaided can't drive very far, has all happened since Thursday. Would anyone advise i increase my Pred to get me through this hopeless place I have found myself in.
linfran margaret89358
Posted
EileenH margaret89358
Posted
margaret89358 EileenH
Posted
Thank you EileenH I took your advise and went to A&E I have
Fractured my left shoulder, and the pain I have on the left side of my head is down to that . They advised I went back to 15 mg and see how I go after a week hopefully the stiffness will go. Doctor said I had suffered a trauma. So feet up for a couple of days to give my body a chance to recover. Without you suggesting I get checked out EilernH I would have left it. Sling and some strong pain killers hopefully will
Be ok in a couple of days. Shower mat installed in shower .
EileenH margaret89358
Posted
EileenH linfran
Posted
You are at a level where your adrenals are having to contribute some cortisol but they are still working on their staged return to work. And stress - illness, trauma or emotional - will affect you more than normally.
And while falling - you may well have upset your back muscles and they are protesting.
linfran
Posted
You explain things so clearly, Eileen. So this is why one would need to up the Pred before surgery, for example. Well it was my daughter's wedding, too, and that was causing heightened emotions in itself.
One question, if you have to increase Pred significantly for a life event, (having tapered to 3 mgs for example,) would you then have to repeat the tapering or could you safely return to the measure you'd tapered to?
EileenH linfran
Posted
No - if you just take a higher dose to cope for a few days you can drop straight back to the former dose. It's how pred is used in most people - a few days, up to a couple of weeks. For a 5 day course you can take it an stop. For longer they usually give you something like 15/10/5 mg for a week or two each and stop. Your baseline is just a bit higher so you return to the baseline not zero. But the shorter the burst the better for obvious reasons.
linfran EileenH
Posted