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Tingling

Posted , 5 users are following.

jo27931
jo27931

Morning everyone, for the last week still having usual neck & shoulder pain on. 7.5 pred, seeing Dr next week as he's on holiday at moment think will have to up the intake. My problem now is the earache has gone but keep getting tingling and pins and needles in my left arm, hand and fingers is this normal. It's the same side as the neck pain (left)

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • tina-uk_cwall
    tina-uk_cwall jo27931

    Posted

    Morning Jo, did you get to 7.5 by the go slow and almost stop method? I ask because at what point during your reduction from 8 to 7.5 did you start getting the return of PMR pains or pred withdrawal pains. If over the past week you feel that the pain has got worse then I would be tempted to up the pred to 8mg. I can't help you with the pins and needles question but if this is a new development I would definitely be tempted to pay my GP a visit. Regards, christina 
  • jo27931
    jo27931

    Posted

    I was on 10 and Dr reduced me to 7.5 then went every other 7.5 to 5 that's when pain got bad. So he did blood test and PMR had gone up from 16 to 18 so Dr said stay on 7.5 pred & take paracetamol as well for pain. Have done this  for 4 weeks now but no better. 

     

    • tina-uk_cwall
      tina-uk_cwall jo27931

      Posted

      Bloody hell Jo, a drop from 10 to 7.5 what was your GP thinking of! And secondly, paracetamol does nothing for PMR pain, because if it did we wouldn't need to take preds? 

      I personally would get myself back up to 10 for 6 weeks then start a very slow reduction of .5 every 6 weeks. I use Eileen's (sort of) dead slow and almost stop reduction method which sees the new dose slowly introduced over a long period of time. I think you'll see a huge improvement re the pain, then it's about managing it carefully to avoid exactly what you are experiencing. All the best, christina 

       

    • EileenH
      EileenH jo27931

      Posted

      With Christina all the way here - what a numpty! Go back to 10mg and start over again! But not until the pain has settled to where it was at 10mg before you reduced.

      Your doctor caused caused a flare in the PMR by reducing you far too fast with steps that might work for an elephant. For success no reduction should be more than 10% of the current dose - and at 10mg that is 1mg, by the time you get to 5mg it will be 1/2mg. NOT 2.5mg at a time, not in PMR. It might work with other illnesses where pred is used but absolutely NOT in PMR. It isn't a race to get off pred, it is a slow titration down to find the lowest dose that manages the symptoms acceptably. Then you stay there for the long haul, with occasional trials of at most a 1mg reduction to see if you can because the cause of the PMR has burnt out - you are looking at a couple of years at least more often than not.

      https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316

      This link takes you to a thread where the first post has a load of info - including the Bristol paper that your GP could do with reading - it is advice from a top rheumatology group for GPs to manage PMR on their own properly.

      In the replies section you will find the very slow reduction method Christina mentions which has worked for pretty much everyone who has used it. If it doesn't work at any point it is becauseyou have reached your end point, your maintenance dose.

      And if your GP won't cooperate - find another one who will.

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