Is the pain in my side a PMR symptom?
Posted , 6 users are following.
I am seeing my GP on Monday for the first time since I was diagnosed at the rheumatology clinic 5 weeks ago.
Before I started on prednisolone I had a very bad pain in my right side. My GP thought this was something to do with an existing back problem, but it has never happened before. Now I am taking prednisolone the pain has eased considerably.
Can I suggest to my doctor that it is a PMR symptom?
0 likes, 4 replies
BettyE kate50809
Posted
If the back pain is due to inflammation then the Pred. will very likely have eased it ( one of the bonuses of taking steroids! ) but that does not necessarily mean that the pain is part of PMR.
What other pains did you have before diagnosis? Shoulders, hips, legs, in most cases bilaterally, are very common though there is nothing precise about PMR. What was your starting dose and how long before it relieved the pains?
You can ask your doctor what s/he thinks, of course. My PMR was first diagnosed as OA the pain of which was wonderfully relieved while on steroids. I've been off now for nearly five years and the OA pain is back with a vengeance.
Hope all goes well for you. Keep coming back. Someone will always be around with help/ advice/ sympathy.
EileenH kate50809
Posted
Perhaps not directly - but one cause of such pain is myofascial pain syndrome which leads to trigger points forming in the muscles on either side of the spine, in the shoulders, about rib level and in the lower back where the baby's dimples are. They can be felt as hard knots of inflamed muscle fibres and can irritate nearby nerve, leading to referred pain including round into the ribs. The trigger points are concentrations of the same cytokines (inflammatory substances) as PMR and at higher doses of pred they often improve considerably. And myofascila pain syndrome often occurs alongside PMR.
kate50809 EileenH
Posted
Thanks for this Eileen. It is very interesting. So the pain in my side could also be due to my 'failed back surgery syndrome' (a clumsy and inaccurate label, but that's the diagnosis) but whatever the cause the pred does help.
I am now taking 10mg but the way my GP prescribed it in the first place, without diagnosing PMR, was the equivalent to taking 26mg a day for 28 days!
If I had been diagnosed straight away, and had 15mg a day, I would probably be down to 10mg by now.
All these names - myofascilia pain syndrome, failed back surgery syndrome, polymyalgia rheumatica -
Could put MPS, FBSS, PMR after my name and sound very learned!!
EileenH kate50809
Posted
Now there's an idea!!!!!! And you probably know more about them than your doctors who have similar sounding letters after THEIR names...