New to Polymyalgia Rheumatica

The fact you have got "miracle" relief with the pred does suggest it could be PMR and that the pred has "kicked in" - but 15mg is the bottom end of the range of doses to start with. That just manages the inflammation and hip and shoulder bursitis will take rather longer than the muscles to improve. Pred doesn't cure PMR, it just improves your quality of life until the real cause of the symptoms has burned out and gone into remission - which tends to be anything from 2 to 6 years for 75% of patients. 

And YOU have to do your bit - the pred only manages inflammation, you need to adjust your life style a bit to accomodate the PMR as your muscles remain intolerant of acute exercise.

You won't get 100% relief unless you are very very lucky, anything better than 70% is acceptable and reasonable. You need to stay at 15mg for at least a month - and then review your status. Unless your GP decides to try 20mg - which obviously should work faster! Either way, no reducing until your symptoms are stable even if not entirely gone.

Taking NSAIDs with pred is not generally recommended though it is claimed Naproxen is better than most for gastric irritation - less isn't none though. But pred is your pain killer in PMR, ordinary painkillers don't help most of us.

This is our "reading list", all put together as a post:

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

Have a good root around and then come and ask specific questions - plenty of people to answer them.

The pain & stiffness of PMR can be unreal. And, like you I was amazed the the prednisone helped so fast. I'm finding that the areas of pain are different with everyone I talk to. As much as I hate the prednisone, I am in horrible pain with stiffness without I.

Good luck and I hope it gets better.

As for taking the naproxen with pred, I'm not sure. I don't take anything with it.

Hi Joanne, welcome to this site where you will find a great community to accompany you on this unwanted journey.  

It took about three days but I was completely pain free all the time I was at 15 mg.  This continuted until 9 mg, and since then, although I slowed my tapering down to truly dead slow I've experienced minor pain. My best time of day is from a couple of hours after taking pred (around 7:30 am) through to the end of the day, so it has worn off somewhat by the morning, especially on my current vanishingly small dose (2 mg) and I do not take any other painkiller specifically for PMR.  Aspirin taken for headache does help the "niggles" but I think it risky to take any NSAID unless needed occasionally for something like a headache, not for PMR.  If PMR is not controlled by pred either the dose is too low or one is doing too much and not allowing healing to occur

Pred is metabolised at different rates by different people and it's possible you will find a different schedule for taking it more helpful.  As I said, my standard early morning dose works for me, but many people seem to find that taking it much earlier with perhaps a little tub of yoghurt to protect the stomach, results in a more comfortable day.  

Give your 15 mg plenty of time to work, and as Eileen says reduce very slowly when you do start to taper.  You'll be more likely to achieve success in getting to the lowest dose which controls your symptoms if you take it really slowly.  In my case I was able to reduce relatively quickly at first, and from 9 to 4 still able to drop by 1 mg per month or six weeks, although by .5 mg a time, but since then, a year now, it's been much slower - a whole year to drop by 2 mg!  

Hi, Joanne:  A couple of things struck me about your description of your pain. I think PMR typically affects both sides of the body about equally so having pain only in the right shoulder sounds unusual.  Also, my shoulders (actually upper arm) hurt when I raised the arm, rather than being sensitive to touch.

I have had pain in my right hip for a year which I think is separate from the PMR. It hurts right in the joint to bear weight, take weight off it, raise my right arm, look to the left, so I think a nerve is being pinched!  I have massage therapy and the therapist found that the attachment points of the quadriceps are incredibly tender.

If I increase my dose of prednisone for a few days, it relieves the hip pain, but that only suggests that I have inflamation in the hip, not specifically PMR.

I suspect your hip pain may be related more to the misalignment which throws off the stresses on the muscles, especially since it started after a specific incident of exercise. Your doctor, chiropractor, a good massage therapist, or a good physical therapist should get to the root of this.  

How great would it be if the treatment was rest and icing, rather than years of pain and steroids!!  Best of luck!

My experience is NSAIDs do nothing for pmr and the right dose of prednisone is like a miracle drug. Six years ago I had my first case of pmr. I ached all over predominately shoulders and hips and was as weak as a kitten. For six months the rheumatoligists told me the pain was all in my head, I had rheumatiod arthritis, I had Lupis, I had Lime Disease, I had Oseteo Arthritis. Finally they thought to try prednisone even though my blood markers did not indicate pmr. I went to the pharmacy walking like Quasimoto the bell wringer, I was in so much pain. Before I left the building I popped a 60 mg prednisone and proceeded to the parking lot. As I walked to the car something strange was going on. It felt the chill in the air was going away. My hips hurt less and I could move my shoulders without stabbing pain. My stride became longer and I was getting up-right instead of hunched over. When I opened the car door my shoulders felt fine. I stood outside the car checking my body parts.  In less than five minute walk to the parking lot PREDNISONE had removed my symptoms