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Low back ache

Posted , 9 users are following.

Pamros
Pamros

Hello comrades. I'm back down to 2mg pred again, but neck and shoulders are quite painful and now I have got low back ache, both sides, needing pain killers and hot water bottles. Does this sound like part of pmr do you think? had it for two weeks now. Definitely not muscle strain and no groin stiffness.

0 likes, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • EileenH
    EileenH Pamros

    Posted

    It could be the PMR starting to resurface - I'm having a flare that is a bit different from previous ones and it took a long time for the groin stiffness to appear but appear it did eventually last week!

    Or it could be a low back problem, possibly myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) which causes muscle tightness across the low back with trigger points that are about where a baby's dimples are. If a hot water bottle helps I'd suspect that might be implicated.

    Sacroiliacitis is the other possibility and that is inflammation of the sacroiliac joint in the pelvis where the spine joins the pelvis.

    Both of them will respond to higher doses of pred but return at lower doses and 2mg is very low. And both of them are found alongside PMR. I knew about the MPS being a close friend of PMR but it was only a couple of weeks ago that I found an article that confirmed that sacroiliac problems are also part of or associated with PMR. I've had both during my years of PMR. both responded best to local steroid injections.

    • Pamros
      Pamros EileenH

      Posted

      Thank you Eileen, I really apprecaite your help. I might go back to 3 again tomorrow, as an experiment. Hope we both feel better soon!
    • EileenH
      EileenH Pamros

      Posted

      I've benefited from Bowen therapy for low back problems - and so have quite a few on the forums. It's perfectly safe for PMR and has a very relaxing effect as well. It doesn't always work - but you do know if it is doing anything after a maximum of 3 sessions - if it hasn't by then it probably won't. But there are several ladies on another forum who have found it helped with pain they've had for years. I don't care how it works - as long as it does! It's best for muscular problems obviously - maybe less helpful for sacroiliacitis. But the heat helping does suggest muscle problems doesn't it?
    • Pamros
      Pamros EileenH

      Posted

      I have had 6 sessions of Bowen over the past year and they have been helpful, the first 3 more than the 2nd, so maybe it is time to make another appointment. It's the muscles just above my haunches, and yes heat definitely helps.
    • EileenH
      EileenH Pamros

      Posted

      Sorry - I had at the back of my mind you might have said so but I couldn't remember. 

      I have pain around the sacroiliac joint at the moment and heat seemed not to help - or at least, it was sort of soothing but the pain didn't go. Bowen didn't help either though. I've just upped the pred because of other signs of a flare and it is less but not gone. I hinted to the GP last week she might consider a steroid jab but she didn't offer. And she's on her jollies this week. 

      As long as it doesn't get any worse...

    • Pamros
      Pamros EileenH

      Posted

      Many thanks Eileen, your help has been invaluable over the past 18 months. Here's hoping we are both doing the 'light fandango' before too long.
    • paul45653
      paul45653 EileenH

      Posted

      Eileen,

      Can you offer a rule of thumb, percentage wise, for increasing pred when suspecting a flare. 

    • EileenH
      EileenH paul45653

      Posted

      My rheumatology-trained GP here in Italy told me to go up to 15mg from 5mg with this flare - and I have needed it. Many doctors suggest adding 5mg to the dose at which the flare occurs - rather than a percentage. That was what I was going to try at first, I've been on 5mg for a long time and thought 10mg would do it. The GP just looked at me! I tried 15mg and felt much better, the next day I tried 12mg and didn't, so have accepted 15mg!

      But like with the whole of the rest of this thing - we are all different. I'd certainly go into it with an open mind - try plus 5mg and if it works, brilliant. If not - a bit more. But always bearing in mind that whatever it is you have, it may NOT be PMR at all. It doesn't excuse us from having other things!

    • paul45653
      paul45653 EileenH

      Posted

      Thanks Eileen

      I'm sure if I bounce a pred increase off my Rhuemy, I'll get a long lecture about the dangers of long term pred. Then a lecture about self diagnosis. If I get relief from my bilateral thigh pain when walking, how long to wait before starting down again, and how fast?

    • EileenH
      EileenH paul45653

      Posted

      You just have to try it - it's a case of how long is a piece of string I'm afraid. 

      The bell that rings for me with bilateral thigh pain on walking is claudication - which is a sign of GCA and other forms of vasculitis rather than merely PMR. Or other partial blockages in abdominal arteries - so I'd ask for a vascular surgeon to give an assessment. 

  • Charko
    Charko Pamros

    Posted

    I have been down to 2 mgs for the past year.  I suffer from the same symptoms as you but have decided to live with it. I am 73 years old. Even though I live in Southern California I have an electric blanket which I turn on before I go to bed, it relaxes me.  I do not want to go up on Pred - too many side effects.  I take Ibuprofen (maybe two x 200 mgs per week) on a hard hike and just live with it.  I have also been told I have arthritis in my back and am one of those 30% that have developed RA but do not take Metrorexate or anything like that yet.  I work hard to stay upright.  I cannot lift furniture (LOL) like I used to and my arms are pretty weak so I am in a muscle building class but then my arms hurt like hell...I also find deep breathing helps me.  One of the worst symptoms I have is always being tired.  I think my Adrenals are shot.  I know I could do more but I have a life and do not want to be constantly minding my body!   Goodluck, be physical and stay upright!
    • Pamros
      Pamros Charko

      Posted

      Thank you Charko, I can identify with the tiredness. I seem to be a raring to go 67 year old stuck in what seems to be a 100 year old body that won't let me! I upped my dose to 3mg this morning and have to say I feel a lot better this afternoon. Good luck too, we'll keep smiling.
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