Total pain relief

both!

Initially pain free on relatively high pred starting dose. But in general I tolerate a bit of stiffness as I've been able to reduce the pred, and thus reduce the side effects.

When I first went on pred at 15 mg I think I had total pain relief. My reason for being hesitant to an outright yes is because I was in so much pain, therefore I wouldn't have noticed the niggles, I reduced to 10 mg and got some aches which showed up in my blood test so went back up to 15 mg and reduced at a slower pace.   I'm now on 6mg after 18 month and feel quite achey in wrist and feet.   I've had a lot of stress though, when I ache the cold makes it worse.   Hope that help answer your question?

Kind Regards 

angelcake

Hi Andrea!  Not a strange question at all.  We are all different when it comes to taking pred.  Some are free of pain after the initial pain/stiffness of the morning wears off - they can get on with their lives pretty successfully, others have recuring pain during the day and some unfortunates (me being one of them) are never really free of pain -even after 3 1/2 years on pred!!!😕

Keeping active, but also resting when necessary, are so important.

Hope your journey is a short one!  Regards from Constance

Thank you Boys and girls! This does give me comfort to think we all have various pain/stiffness, I suppose it's the unpredictability of PMR that makes our response vary! I'll hang on in there 😄😄 xx

My reply is similar to others - I was prescribed 30 mg and after 4/5 hour was 95% free of pain.  I have reduced down using the slow but sure method over 10 months to 7 mg.  I still have days, sometime not all day. when I experience a reminder but it's nowhere even near what it was pre preds.

Not a strange question at all! The criteria for using pred in a semi-confirmation of PMR is a 70% global improvement in symptoms within a short time to a dose of 15-20mg pred that return in a similar time frame when pred is stopped. So no, not necessarily total pain relief but there should be a decided improvement. The use of the moderate dose is also important - higher doses will achieve an improvement in other things.

Most people find they will have a good day - followed by bad days. Mostly because on the good day they then do too much! At the beginning some people may say they had total pain relief - but that could be just their perception compared to the state they were in before as angelcake says.

Wet or damp or windy weather affects some people - others find cold make sit worse. I'm fine as long as it is dry, no matter whether it is very cold or hot. Don't tolerate extreme heat though.

When you are reducing though you are looking for the lowest dose that gives you the same level of relief as you got at best - with the highest dose you were on and after a few weeks. It isn't a good idea to reduce from that starting dose until there is no further improvement in the symptoms - if you have any amount of bursitis that will take longer to fade than any muscle problems and it migt even be better if any bursitis is looked at separately and cortisone injections used to help so the oral pred has less to do.

After initial diagnosis and taking high dose of pred the pain and stiffness went, am reducing dose slowly now on 10mg and have pain to a degree wears off during morning, I have pain in shoulder and upper arm on one arm.  Some days I feel fine, other days feel weepy, get emotional too. 

 

Hello, Andrea,

When I first started taking prednisone, I had significant redution of pain and stiffness for about 3 weeks.  Then I started doing things I shouldn't have.  Too much.

Pain and stiffness returned.  I find now that most of the pain and stiffness in my neck, shoulders, arms, buttocks and quadraceps is greatly reduced.  But I have pain and stiffness every morning in my lower back and back rib area on each side of my spine.  I have started taking my dose of prednisone about 6:30 AM and going back to bed for about two hours (as I read others have done) and that has helped tremendously.  Don't know if the back pain described above is PMR or something else but am beginning to think it is PMR since it responds to the prednisone.  Have reduced the prednisone dose to 15 mg.  The last reduction from 17.5 mg to 15 mg may have been too big of a step...thus the back symptoms worsening.  Asked my doc for some 1 mg tablets so I can reduce 1 mg at a time from now on.  EllenH helped alot by explaining that prednisone doesn't take all of the PMR symptoms away but helps with the inflammation making it easier for me to manage this disease.  I have only been diagnosed since January.  I am still getting my mind wrapped around this disease.  This forum has been such a great comfort and wealth of information.  I don't respond all the time but get so much help from others' responses and sharing.  I have good days and bad days.  I cannot tolerate hot weather.  Changes in the barometric pressure seem to affect me.  Some days I take two naps; some days I take one and before this disease I seldom took a nap.  I go to bed very early.  My life has changed.  But I try to walk whenever I can and listen to my body. I have gained weight which is depressing for me since I was over weight to begin with. But know that I will lose weight when I am able to get my dose of prednisone lower.  I want to reduce the dose appropriately so my PMR remains as controlled as possible.  I read this forum every day and come away with hope.

I had complete pain relief after a few days on 20 mg and it has stayed that way. Now that I am on 5.5 mg (after 18 months), I am now experiencing pain at the base of my right thumb, which the ortho says is arthritis. Weird that the pain and swelling is only in my right hand, as I have arthritis in the other one, also.

I do use the mouse a LOT for work and I am also right handed. He gave me a brace, told me to use antiinflammatory meds orally or to rub Ibuprofen gel on it and hope it helps. The next step is a cortisone shot and he also said that he could refer me to a hand surgeon for a joint replacement, eventually. Apparently the third most common orthopedic replacement surgery (he says). For me it is a last resort.

I think, now that I am on less Prednisone, this problem, that was lurking in the backgroumnd, has now leapt forward to bare its teeth at me.

I will see my rheumy next week and will get her opinion. Am not eating Ibuprofen. The gel gives me a bit of a rash. Trying Arnica. Have eye surgery in June. Don't want to do more drugs at the moment.