With PMR have you developed a persistent chest cough?
Posted , 9 users are following.
I am asking for your thoughts here as I'm not getting much medical support here of late. I have been on Prednisone 3.5 years and the last 2 years have developed a persistent chest cough which causes my chest to ache when I cough or sneeze. Have any of you had a similar issue? I suspect it is a side effect of taking the steroics. My CRP has steadily risen over the last 6 months, which is unusual, from 3 to 6 to 10 and now 32 which it very high for me! My doctor wants me to have a stress test to see if the heart has been impacted. My shoulder and upper back have become much more achy the last few months as well which probably correlates with my high CRP and this week I am fighting a virus which is causing these muscles to ache even more. I'm on about 9 mg of Prednisone, well actually a year ago my Endocrinologist switched me from Pred to Cortisone thinking it might trick my body into letting me reduce my dosage which unfortunately it didn't do. I'm thinking of maybe asking my family doctor to switch me back to Prednisone from Cortisone since it works for longer hours and is stronger than Cortisone and I expect he has much more experience prescribing it than Cortisone. Unfortunately my endocrinologist decided he was unable to be of further assistance so he sent me back to my family doctor.
0 likes, 25 replies
iellen32 leonard12916
Posted
The throat was for me the first symptom of my GCA even before my diagnosis.. As for you it is bringing consequences. such as chest ache...
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It comes with the illness by itself not because the steroid. Yes we want to get rid of the steroid but tha fact is it helps more than anything else.
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To see your family doctor is the best you do at that point.
Your markers are high - the inflammation is there..
Are you following an anti- inflammation diet? You will feel the difference when you do, when you don't.
Wish you have good results in 2017,
Take care
iellen
pam1793 leonard12916
Posted
Hi Leonard. Sorry to hear about the ongoing cough. I was just the opposite. I had a nagging, continuous cough for over a year and the doctors just wouldn't pay attention to me when I'd mention it. After my GCA diagnosis in March 2016 and being on high doses of Prednisone for months, it dawned on me that the cough disappeared. I never connected my cough as being a symptom of GCA until I read about it posted on this site. It could be coincidental that the Prednisone made the cough disappear, but for now it is gone.
I hope they find the cause of your cough. I gave up and just lived with it, which was very annoying.
leonard12916 pam1793
Posted
pam1793 leonard12916
Posted
Leonard, really it was my SED rate, inflammatory markers and symptoms that added up to the diagnosis. I had a temporal arteries biopsy back in 2013, so they could not repeat that test. I suppose the doctor figured I had "graduated " from pmr to GCA, so to speak. I found GCA to cause a great deal of pain in my head, unlike when I had pmr. Unrelenting pain when it flares up.
amkoffee leonard12916
Posted
About the Tylenol it's not known to cause neither stomach upset or constipation. However I would caution you to not use too much because it can hurt your liver. But that is if you use it a lot over the course of years. And Eilee, just an FYI Tylenol is acetaphetamine. As far as the constipation goes I am an expert because I have had numerous impacted colons. (I think that makes me an expert) And so I have learned how to keep from getting them now. My experience tells me that your best bet is to use Miralax. I'm assuming you're in the US. Miralax once a day in your coffee or in water whichever works best for you keeps you as regular as clockwork. And you stomach problems could very well be caused by the constipation.
EileenH amkoffee
Posted
"But that is if you use it a lot over the course of years"
No, afraid not. The difference between the maximum therapeutic dose and the toxic dose of paracetamol/Tylenol is very narrow - and for some people the max dose is also toxic. One lady was told by her GP to take it instead of slightly more pred because the hand pain that was returning was OA not PMR he said. It was perfectly safe to take the max dose for as long as she wanted/needed. Two months later he referred her for an emergency liver scan when her liver enzymes were sky high. Nothing nasty found - it was the Tylenol/acetaminophen/paracetamol. So she was told not to take it again. Even a couple of doses that are too high are enough to lead to irreversible liver damage if you are unlucky and it isn't found soon enough. It isn't a nice way to die.
To be more accurate in my statement - I can never remember which Tylenol is which, there are several aren't there? In the UK and Europe we rarely use brand names and so I can never remember which is what and I always have to look it up, I couldn't at the time as I wrote. Now I see that tylenol is paracetamol and nowt else. Still won't be using it though!