Posted , 3 users are following.
Can I have PMR without any of the classic symptoms? I have been diagnosed with PMR and have responded quickly to prednisone 15mg after 5 days. I no longer have the extreme fatique I was suffering for the last few months. My CPR was bordering on high.
Thank you
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Anhaga ian59304
Posted
Just curious what your symptoms were on which the diagnosis was based? Do you mean that your PMR symptoms have now resolved in the days since you started taking pred? This is a very good sign, and actually a result which confirms PMR rather than another disease which might have polymyalgic symptoms.
I didn't ever actually suffer from fatigue until I was reducing my pred dose down to the level where the adrenals have to start producing cortisol again, about six months after starting pred, like you at 15 mg. The pred should make the symptoms vanish, but it doesn't mean the disease is vanquished. All pred does is dampen the symptoms which are caused by your own body producing inflammatory cells. Eventually it will almost certainly go into remission, but that takes anything from 1 (at a rare best) to closer to 6 years. Many people, like us, feel so much better on the early doses of pred that our energy levels increase. Part of that can be due to sleeping better because of less pain, or even the ability to move more vigorously improving circulation, a nice positive reinforcing loop!
So that is rather a wordy way of saying that pred and PMR are not at all the same as, for example, an antibiotic and an infection. People taking pred are looking at quite a long journey, the first aim of which is to control the inflammation, then secondly, to very slowly taper the dose to the lowest level which continues to control the inflammation, and eventually to carefully taper off. I started pred in 2015, tapering to 3 by the end of the first year. It took another year to get to 1.5, and quite honestly my lowest best dose appears to have been 2 mg. I've recently had a severe flare and currently am at 5 mg and hope in a few days to start a very slow taper back down again. I have pretty much decided that at my age (just turned 74) I should resign myself to taking pred for the rest of my life and feel very fortunate that a very low dose is enough because long term pred does come with some issues.
You will also find a lot more people to share your journey with on the HealthUnlocked website, the PMRGCAuk community.
EileenH ian59304
Posted
You must have had some symptoms to have the diagnosis and be started on pred - but being pain-free with 15mg pred is often taken as pretty much diagnostic of PMR. I was practically free of most pain in 6 hours though it improved over the following week - and the bursitis pain I had took a few months to go entirely.
The fatigue doesn't normally improve markedly with the pred - unless of course it was due to the inflammation which is now combatted by the pred. Pred also gives some people wings and effectively that combats the fatigue.
However - you will have noticed this forum is very quiet - you will find most of us from here are now on the PMRGCAuk charity forum which is much more active and easier to use:
https://healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk