Low back ache
Posted , 9 users are following.
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
EileenH Pamros
Posted
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 EileenH
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EileenH Pamros
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Pamros EileenH
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EileenH Pamros
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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 EileenH
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paul45653 EileenH
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Can you offer a rule of thumb, percentage wise, for increasing pred when suspecting a flare.
EileenH paul45653
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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 EileenH
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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 paul45653
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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 Pamros
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Pamros Charko
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