I thought I had lost you

Before PMR diagnosis, knee arthritis was present with instruction to take ibuprofen which did not help the PMR pain. Plus ibuprofen 4 or 5 times a day caused ulcers. The two drugs should not be mixed! Prednisone alone takes care of my pain, now at 7 mgs after 3 years. I have had one knee replacement. Other knee fine so far.

I used to have both but now only OA. No PMR for the last five years.

When I finally got to zero Pred. I soon noticed that the OA pain, which the Pred. had masked very effectively, came back and I still get it more or less non stop but with varying degrees of severity which I believe is typical.

I have never been offered nor asked for a prescription for OA drugs; my choice as even paracetamol is bad news for me. So how do I manage? Well, it's never possible to compare degrees of pain between individuals so perhaps mine is less severe than yours and I have been lucky to manage without drugs but there are things I have found help.

First, I try not to be still for too long at a time so that means that first thing in the morning is my worst time. I switch on my electric blanket when I wake up and I carefully wriggle and stretch and then I have a cup of tea in bed. I don't enjoy having to get out of bed to make it but have a routine which is manageable. After about 20-30 minutes I get up and have a long hot shower and then I feel a lot better.

I'm probably much more able than someone with PMR to be able to do quite energetic things like bringing in logs for my stove and all my own housework ( but I have an upstairs and downstairs vacuum cleaner ) I do take great care on the stairs and always make sure to have at least one free hand to hold the rail.

I find wheat bags a great comfort and, because my hands are affected, I bought a wax bath as used in OT departments ( only smaller ) and that, too is very good on bad days.

Have you heard of Flexiseq? I hesitate to include it although I've used it for some years on my knees ( It's a cream that you smear on ) because I'm not altogether convinced that it makes a difference but am afraid to test it out by stopping which is a bit superstitious, I suppose. Other on here have used it, I know.

Your position and mine are different but maybe something here might be useful. I hope so.

Is the OA in the knees proven by imaging? A rheumy told me about 13+ years ago that I had OA in my right knee, probably due to previous injury. She could "feel it". I already had PMR but she didn't recognise it and when eventually it was recognised and I was put on pred the knee pain went, Last spring I had a return of the knee pain, almost identical, and my GP sent me for an x-ray. There was no sign of any OA at all.

I no longer believe everything I'm told unless I see some proof to back it up.

I've had osteoarthritis for many years, diagnosed when I was forty, and various x-rays over subsequent years have confirmed this. Personally I don't think pred has had any bad effect on my arthritis. At higher doses all my aches and pains went away. I've always avoided taking any nsaids specifically for arthritis as they interfere with cartilage regeneration and therefore using for anything other than occasionally for other reasons, like headache, is counterproductive. I've always been normal weight, now underweight, so losing weight wasn't an option. I've taken a significant dose of glucosamine sulphate for many years and I think this must have helped, as well as the avoidance of nsaids as the progression of OA has been very slow. Whether this is relevant or not I don't know but I feel that taking a balanced B vitamin pill every couple of days has also been helpful. I don't remember why I started doing this, but when I stopped things seemed to get worse so I started again and take one every second day.

When I was first ill with PMR but didn't know, I thought it was the OA getting worse. Didn't understand why I felt the pain in my muscles not my joints, and thought all my supplements had stopped working, so stopped taking them. When I was diagnosed after over a year and started pred it was a true miracle. As the dose was tapered the arthritic aches and pains came back, so I started to take the glucosamine and Vitamin B again, along with the things we need to take to prevent osteoporosis. Measuring out my pills once a week takes a while, but they are all nutritional supplements, and the only drug I take is prednisone.

I have a lot of physio exercises prescribed over the years for various body parts, nearly all related to OA, and do these regularly to maintain strength and range of motion.