PPalpitations on Prednisolone

Spot on EileenH, my wife suffered PMR for 2 years before going to the GP (yes, stupid) - as you know the muscular shoulder pains are awful. She was on Pred for 4 months and has just tapered off - her main problem is sleeping, 16 hours a day is normal for her. I know these side effects will pass, but she's going through hell. Pred is used instead of other steroids due to it being so cheap to buy - despite the huge list of side effects. 

 I wish you well recovering from PMR, it is an awful condition.

 

The other steroids are no better in terms of side-effects at the doses needed and pred is the ideal in terms of length of effect - that is why it is used.

Sounds though as if your wife had almost got to the end anyway! Good luck - I do hope it stays away. I'd been to the doctor enough times - he didn't recognise it as my blood tests were "normal" but don't get me started on that!

Hi Again (we must stop meeting like this)!!  You are correct about steroids, but Pred are the cheapest.

Having spent 14 years in London as a 999 ambulance-man (one of the first to undergo the para-medic training ... it has improved since my days in the 70's thank goodness), I have seen some awful errors made by GP’s. (and hospital doctors). OK, we are all human, but some mistakes are unforgivable which makes you rather lose faith in the medical profession.

Recently one of the GP's at my surgery gave me tablets to dull the pain receptors in my brain - it was not until I got home did I realise I was already on a similar medication – taking both together could have been very nasty. Like you I could get on the band wagon, so I’ll leave it there!

My daughter is a paramedic - it took her months and months and a stiff lecture from me to get her to the GP to do something about the infection that had turned into an almost permanent asthma attack.Their response all through the winter had been "It's the time of year".

She finally turned up and had a really bad attack in the surgery - where they stood around panicking but at least managed to dial 999. Her colleague arrived, took one look and asked if they'd given her (I think) ipratropium. They hadn't "Oh, we think we have some in the frig but what's the dose?" Even the "driver" colleague knew that! She was blue-lighted to hospital (a mere 35min away) with the monitor hidden so she couldn't see her sats. Then she was transferred to another hospital another 30+ mins away as they had no beds. Then the on-call gastroenterologist told her her asthma was due to being overweight - after 6 months on almost constant pred. However - the respiratory guy knew his stuff and his specialist nurse was even better.

You couldn't make it up sometimes could you? 

Hi Again,

Delighted to hear your daughter is a PM. I joined the LAS (London Ambulance Service) as a vocational thing - over halved my salary to do so, but it was the best 14 years of my life and have no regrets. I'm sure you would be fascinated at some of the thingsI encountered - but this is not the correct place to swap stories.

Anyway, do give your daughter my regards, she has chosen a fantastic job. I take it she is not in London?

No mercifully as it beats me how anyone on a PM salary could survive there! She's in YAS. Her cousin works for a booze firm and is based in London - and when working full time was "earning" more than the PM and nurse in my family put together. On the basis of one honours degree in business and creating the stuff PMs pick up on a Friday night...

Ah well - so is life.

 I was fortunate in having other businesses on the go at the same time (shift work enabled me to do so) and was earning far more than my LAS salary. Other ambulance-men had to do all overtime available to make ends meet – also remember the salary in the 70’s was far less than today – and that’s taking the cost of living rises over the years. In today’s money we would be earning about 15K! So ‘in ‘them old days’ it was very much a vocation. The early Para Medic training was done in our own time, at our own cost, and in truth it was only equivalent to an EMT and has grown to what it is now.

We were very fortunate in being stationed where the ‘Flying Doctors’ started, we became great pals with them and were taught many of the things modern PM’s do today – that was prior to the PM idea taking off.

Trust me, everybody has side effects on Pred, some quite scary, but they do pass in time - just hang in there.

It isn't as simple as pred is bad, no pred is good. The uncontrolled inflammation in your body is also predisposing you in the long term to other problems, including cardiovascular disease and even some cancers.

You may think you'd rather have the pain but you may well find as time goes on your PMR symptoms get worse than they are now - mine remained fairly stable for about 5 years and I did manage without pred - not out of choice, it simply wasn't diagnosed. But I was restricted in what I could do, I gave up many hobbies and rarely went out on my own. I could go somewhere if I could drive and park right where I wanted to go, no blue badge though, walking more than a short distance was out and I HAD to use a shopping trolley to get round the supermarket. I was in bed before 9pm and struggled to get out of bed before 9am - and was still exhausted. Pred doesn't help the fatigue necessarily but believe me, the pain is not only exhausting but also depressing when it goes on day after day, even though it is at a relatively low level.

If you simply halved your dose there is no wonder the pain came back - and splitting the dose or even just reducing to 15mg which is a usual starting dose might well have been enough to reduce the palpitations. And PMR can cause palpitations too - I have atrial fibrillation, it causes palpitations and according to the cardiologist it is most likely due to the underlying autoimmune disorder that causes PMR. It certainly started about the same time as the PMR symptoms, a good 5 years before I ever took pred.

Good luck with your naturopathic doctor appointment - but no-one I have come across on 3 forums over 7 years has succeeded in managing PMR only using alternative therapies. It may help - but it doesn't replace pred for a happier life.

Thanks. Eileen

I have always gone the natural path to wellness. In fact my Chiropractor wanted me to try alternatives to the Prednisone. But you have been there done that. And I so appreciate your input on this horrible condition. I will keep the inflammation down as you suggested to keep myself as pain free as possible. Have you kept your weight under control? I lost 20 lbs in a month when this started. I weighed 117 now I'm climbing back up now at 125. Usual weight 130. It does make you hungry...

Thanks again for the sound advice

I put on weight with PMR - 5 years of not being able to exercise thoroughly combatted the usual weight loss in PMR. Then, when I was on prednisolone, the weight rearranged itself to the usual pred places )face, midriff and back of the shoulders) but I didn't gain much more. But pred doesn't make me hungry, that had been pre-pred, I'd craved carbs every afternoon - which really isn't me.

When I moved here to Italy I had to switch to methyl prednisolone, no ordinary pred here, and I immediately gained weight and had other delightful side effects: hair and skin went mad, grew a lovely dark beard, plus other things. As soon as I was switched to a form of prednisone that all started to improve - and with a very strict low carb diet I lost 38 lbs over the following couple of years. I'm a bit stuck now but am well below my pre-pred weight I think. All the midriff weight and face fat has gone. Lots of others have found low carb does help avoid that, not always 100% but to a great extent. Pred changes the way your body metabolises carbs - there is also the risk of diabetes, so remove the carbs and it reduces the problem. Not eating carbs reduces the blood sugar spikes and insulin response that sends your blood sugar too low, triggering the hunger pangs. And having less insulin in the body also reduces the fat storage problem.

Everything you can do naturally to reduce the inflammation will help - one lady swears by oily fish 3 times a week, using turmeric and garlic in cooking helped her she is sure. But be careful with turmeric capsules - that is a very high dose and some people have had anaemia problems as a result - and that happens as a result of autoimmune disorders too.

Once you have got the inital problems under control and if you are careful about lifestyle management it can be not too bad - when people have problems it is often because they have unrealistic expectations of what they can do - all their normal household tasks, looking after the grandchildren, working at a physical job. You have a new normal - and while you will get back to doing a lot more eventually, at present it pays to rest and adapt how and when you do things.