PMR or something else

And sciatica can go alongside PMR... And both can come alongside normal bloods - up to 20% of pMR patients have normal bloods...

Thanks Eilleen 

I'll remember that when I go back 

Dear Eileen,

Would upping the dose of prednisone help the sciatica pain that can accompany PMR? Thank you, Linda

In my personal experience, pred at 15 mg made ALL my pains go away, including pain caused by osteoarthritis in my spine.  Those pains came back with lowering dose but have been for the most part sorted by good physiotherapy, etc, although currently experiencing back trouble.  That being said I would NEVER increase pred for anything except plain old PMR (or GCA if, God forbid, I get that).

Not necessarily - it might blunt the pain but it would depend on the cause of the sciatica. And you might need a highish dose. As Anhaga says - good physiotherapy might be more useful and fewer side effects!

Thank you, Eileen.. what would a highish dose be?

Dear Anhaga,

What type of physiotherapy do you receive? Thank you for your response.

Linda

20mg/day is the borderline between a moderate and a high dose. If a few days of that sort of dose helped a lot then maybe it would be worth it but not if you needed it consistently to maintain the pain relief. If there is a mechanical cause - discs perhaps or spasmed muscles, the cause of the pain remains and as soon as you stop the dose of pred the pain is likely to return. Hence, physiotherapy using manual mobilisation techniques for spasmed muscles would probably be a better approach for spasmed muscles. But it should start with an x-ray at the least to rule out other problems which would have their own solutions. Pred isn't something to play about with to see what it will do.

My physiotherapist happens to have a good knowledge of PMR, especially as one of her good friends is a rheumatologist.  She actually discouraged me from attempting some high intensity  exercise, saying it wouldn't be a good idea because of the PMR.  She is very good at assessing various problems and has used a number of techniques to help me deal with the pain which was not specifically PMR, among other things "dry needling". She also does low level light therapy which has been found effective in reducing production of pain-causing cytokines (studied for RA not PMR) but this particular treatment is not widely available outside North America, although there are practitioners all around the world.

Thank you! I do have herniated discs in my back. 

Thank you!!

As you're in the USA it's worth your googling light therapy toronto kahn, especially if you have insurance coverage fro physiotherapist or chiropractor, the usual providers of the  treatment.  

Thank you. Do you know of other PMR patients who have also been diagnosed with fibromyalgia? I think that is why I have a hard time. Thanks, Linda

Why not ask that question in a new post?  It seems to me that from time to time people do tell us they have both PMR and fibro. 

There are several people on the forums who have both - not necessarily here though. Most are clear about which symptoms are which since they had had fibro previously and then PMR joined in the game.