1. Community
  2. Bones, joints and muscles
  3. Polymyalgia Rheumatica and GCA

Not PMR but Fibromyalgia

Posted , 15 users are following.

nellie14381
nellie14381

My doctor decided to change my illness to Fibromyalgia. He thinks I did not respond to prednisone as he expected and suggested I use Tramadol for pain. Tramadol works very well for me, but I'm afraid to get addicted to it, I use it only sometimes or when I need to have more energy for some task or trips. I still think I have PMR, I have all symptoms you describe on this board, my pains are similar to yours, but my blood work is normal now. I could not tolerate prednisone when I was just diagnosed with PMR almost 2 years ago and I started taking Zyflamend™ Whole Body by New Chapter (it's based on Turmeric and other antiflammatory herbs). I think it help somewhat me with pain and inflammation. My question to you on this board if you were suggested by your doctor to take Tramadol for PMR and if did taken have you had any improvement by taking Tramadol.

0 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

Prev
  • EileenH
    EileenH nellie14381

    Posted

    How DID you respond to pred? Did it make any difference to the symptoms? I assume too then that your ESR/CRP are normal? As they are in 1 in 5 patients with PMR.

    A lady on another forum told us recently that her rheumatologist told her to stop the pred because she hadn't responded as he expected so it wasn't GCA - but a mystery. She is 49 - he would treat it as GCA if she were older he said.

    One is left to ask what he thought pred was to do since, with pretty textbook GCA symptoms, 30mg removed all the pain and head symptoms. It didn't relieve the fatigue and brain fog - well, there's a surprise then! She is down to 20mg and the symptoms have all returned. Including blurring vision but the eye specialist can't see anything.

    Tramadol and other non-NSAID painkillers rarely help with PMR - they won't help with the stiffness as they don't reduce the inflammation. NSAIDs (NonSteroidal AntiInflammatory Drugs) sometimes help mild cases because they can attack the inflammation and reduce the swelling that leads to the pain and stiffness of PMR. They are listed in the Guidelines as a first approach for mild PMR. But they have their own list of side effects, some of which are worse than pred. NSAIDs never helped me for the PMR - it did take the edge off the bursitis, but it didn't make a lot of difference.

    • gillian_25383
      gillian_25383 EileenH

      Posted

      Tramadol is not an NSAID;it is opiate based and therefore non anti-inflammatory.
    • EileenH
      EileenH gillian_25383

      Posted

      Quite - read the first words of my final paragraph: "Tramadol and other non-NSAID painkillers rarely help with PMR - they won't help with the stiffness as they don't reduce the inflammation."

      I went on to say that NSAIDs sometimes do because of their anti-inflammatory action.

  • IssyR
    IssyR nellie14381

    Posted

    Hi Nellie. I was diagnosed with PMR September '14 but had symptoms since the july. I was already on a high dose of tramadol after a pleural empyema (pneumonia) in the march which lead to me having a pretty intrusive and painful surgery where they had to remove part of a rib to give access to scrape out the solidified infection...hope you're not at your tea...!!! lol so when i first had the pain/stiffness i was on 200mg at night and 200mg in the morning which got rid of the pain from my op and nerve damage but didn't make a mark on the pmr...it wasn't until the september when i was prescribed pred 20mg that overnight i was a different woman. I'm convinced it was my illness in the March that triggered the PMR as my infection levels were crazy high...i still take tramadol 100mg in the morn and 100mg at night for nerve damage but i'm hoping to cut that down again soon....SO i think what i'm saying is if the pred didn't work and tramadol did your doc is probably correct..but try not to worry about being addicted to the tramadol you obviously need it...you just have to ensure when it's time to reduce or stop taking it you do it slowly. Glad something is working for you...take care xxxxx
Back to top
Prev

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.