New to Polymyalgia Rheumatica

If you follow this link:

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-and-other-website-addresses-35316

it will take you to a post with further links to the site by the northeast of England PMR GCA support group with a lot of information for you - all reliable and monitored by healthcare professionals for accuracy.

If what you have really is PMR, then the 15mg of pred will give you a lot of relief. You say "will be starting today" - for best results you need to take the entire dose as early in the day as possible, don't wait until half way through the morning to take it, Lots of people make that mistake at first or take it in divided doses and wonder why it doesn't help as much as it should.

If it is PMR then you should get about 70% improvement in your symptoms within a few days. For some people it is really dramtic - i went from barely able to move to being able to walk down and back up the stairs normally (ie not like a toddler going down and on hands and knees going back up) 6 hours after the first 15mg dose at 10am! That was that late because I'd had to fetch it from the chemist.

For some people the pain improves to a stage where they say it has all gone, for others there is still some pain and they have not been pain-free until some time after stopping taking pred after being on pred for 3 or 4 years. The stiffness and muscle pain improved dramatically very quickly for me but the bursitis pain in shoulders, hips and hands and feet took much longer, a few months before it was all gone but it did go. 

I hope your GP knows not to reduce too fast or in too big steps if it really is the form of PMR that responds to pred. It doesn't cure the illness, that is an underlying autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation and that is what causes the pain and stiffness. It does usually burn out eventually but it can take years and is rarely under 2 years. The pred is used to manage the symptoms and once the inflammation is under control (after some weeks at 15mg) the next step will be to reduce the daily dose very slowly to find the lowest dose that manages the symptoms adequately. But that is still to come.

Hope you are already feeling a lot better - but DON'T go rushing to catch up all the things you haven't been able to do since you have been ill. You still have the illness and rest is an important part of treating it. Overdoing things will still make your muscles sore - they have become intolerant of exercise and will protest if you try to use them too much without increasing the amount very gradually.

Hi Julie ,Like you had a similar start to all this 

.Have been on prednisalone for 3 weeks ,pain has come and gone a few times .Also have ostioatheritus in kneck and shoulder so not that easy to distinguish the difference ,but do know the sudden onset of pain which sent me to doctor in first place appears to be settleing down . Had my second blood test two days ago go for results soon .Am on 15 mg pred at moment have had a few bad headaches I think a lot to do with tension of what will happen next than side affects . Have floater , but am 66 so will mention ton doc when I see her . Hang in there and try not to dwell on to much info .Good luck

Julie98961, in my case it was like a miracle. I could hardly move because of the pain. I took the pred and I expected something to happen immediately! It was actually fifteen hours and twenty five minutes I noticed the improvement, I could not believe it, my life was again worth living.

Having also been diagnosed back in June, after misdiagnosed by my GP, I started the preds on the Saturday morning and by 3 o'clock that afternoon I was 95% better, and completely mobile - it's not a miracle 'cure' but a miracle symptom coverer.  We are all well aware of the range of side effects preds can give you, but remember you will not get all of them all the time - thank goodness.  There are other meds that the GP will prescribe to reduce the major ones.  Best of luck.

Hi Julie, I am also new to taking Pred. I started on Thursday..so this is day 3. I do feel some relief so far. I also was being treated for Fibromyalgia. I'm 57 and have had muscle and joint problems since about age 11yrs. I have been treated by the Rheumatologist for the past 3 years for Psoriatic Arthritis, but dont have Psoriasis. My dad did. This sounds complicated doesn't it? I'm sure he was wrong. My GP was the one who agreed with the diagnosis of fibro. I have been off work for over 3 months. It started with daily intolerable headaches/migraines for which I had eye tests and a CT scan on my head. All tests showed nothing. Even my blood tests for inflamation were normal!! When I knew how I felt! So after the headaches lessened, the muscle pain started in my neck, shoulders and upper arms. Getting in and out of the car and even driving the car is so painful. As is getting dressed!

I have had depression since I was 17. All this makes it worse. I didn't know if I was depressed because of the illness, or ill because of the depression. Now I know it's the illness. That helps so much to know I am not imagining things. I am not going mad. I would like to hear how you are getting on. Please report back when you can.....sorry if this is a bit muddled. I'm just writing it as I think of it.

Also, since I lost my appetite over 3 months ago, I have really bad sugar cravings.

Does anyone else have this?? And bad headaches??