PMR moving to hands
Posted , 11 users are following.
Has anyone had the pain in their shoulders move to hands. I have had problems in the morning now making a fist with out a large amount of pain, and my knuckles have been swollen.
0 likes, 13 replies
Danrower Dennis123
Posted
Dennis,
Please google RS3PE.
PMR's evil sister.
EileenH Dennis123
Posted
Dan has offered one answer. Carpal tunnel syndrome is another.
And yet another is - what other symptoms do you have? Is it certain it is PMR
peggy_56092 Dennis123
Posted
In the beginning of my PMR, my fingers were painful and swollen. I could not wear my rings for about six months. Gradually it went away and never came back. I am in my third going on fourth year of PMR and am at 6 to 5 1/2 mgs prednisone.
rich38490 Dennis123
Posted
I have not experienced that, may not be PMR.
Best wishes.
RICH
Senormacho Dennis123
Posted
Yes, I have had the same symptoms especially in my right hand. I have had PMR for 2 1/2 to 3 yrs. Did not get the arthritic hands until just recently, though. And it kind of comes and goes so far as its severity. I have been on 15 to 20 mg of pred....just reduced today to 10 mg, Am anxiously awaiting to see what this reduction portends in terms of PMR symptoms.
Dennis123 Senormacho
Posted
Did your Doctor give you anything different for the symptoms in your hands?
EileenH Senormacho
Posted
It would be less of a shock to your body NOT to reduce the dose 5mg at a time! This isn't reducing to get OFF pred, it is tapering to find the right dose for you, the lowest dose that manages the symptoms as well as the starting dose did.
Top experts in tapering (or titrating) the dose) say no reduction should be more than 10% of the current dose - 15 to 10 is 33%! Other PMR experts say that reducing at more than 1mg per month is predictive of flares. Reducing in such large steps makes it more likely that, not only will you miss the dose you are looking for, but you may experience steroid withdrawal rheumatism, just your body protesting at not getting the dose of pred it is expecting, and it can be so similar to PMR that you (and your doctor) think it is a flare and put you back to a higher dose. By reducing in small steps the body doesn't experience such shocks and you are more likely to identify the "right" dose accurately - and without the pain and disappointment of creating unnecessary flares. Getting into a yoyo pattern with your pred dose is very easy when you jump down the dose - and have to jump up again. And when you yoyo the dose, for some reason it seems more difficult to get things under control again.
One way of going about it, as well as limiting reductions to 1mg at a time, is to use a slowed taper of this sort:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/reducing-pred-dead-slow-and-nearly-stop-method-531439
which is being used in a clinical study in the north of England and has been used successfully by dozens, probably hundreds now, on the PMRGCA forums.
bob03667 Dennis123
Posted
Dennis,
Almost a year ago, my pain started in both shoulders; then went to my upper arms and wrists; then my hips and kupper legs. Had very little swelling in my hands and wrists, but a lot of pain lifting almost anything. With the 20mg of prednisone, that cleared up in a week or so. I'm now down to 7mg prednisone - 5mg in the morning and 2mg at night with the plan to reduce 1mg per month.
peggy_56092 bob03667
Posted
Reducing by 1/2 mg might be better for more than a month and/or whether PMR pops up.
bob03667 Dennis123
Posted
Peggy,
Probably when I get down to 5mg (two more months), from there I will probably reduce by 1/2mg per month.
Guest Dennis123
Posted
Hello Dennis, I have placed my first posting here today, and it includes info on the loss of use of my hands. Please read what I've written and we can share info.
angela
Dennis123 Guest
Posted
Hi Angela,
I am not seeing your post.
Dennis
EileenH Dennis123
Posted
Separate thread:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/so-very-much-despair-706921