Polymyalgia Rheumatica

[Joan6]

I thought my pain in arms, shoulders and hips was being caused by Fosamax 70mg and have stopped it two weeks ago. My Dr. after looking at my blood work believes that I have Polymyalgia Rheumatica and would like me to start on a low dosage of Prednisone. I am terrified of having to take prednisone. Any suggestions.

[hartbis]

It does not sound like a low dose of Prednisone could cause any permanent damage. You could just try it and see. Did you express your concerns to your doctor? Prednisone may make you feels alot better. Hopefully your doctor knows what he is doing.

[butterflytrans]

Originally Posted by hartbis

It does not sound like a low dose of Prednisone could cause any permanent damage. You could just try it and see. Did you express your concerns to your doctor? Prednisone may make you feels alot better. Hopefully your doctor knows what he is doing.

You're right...prednisone can have nasty effects, but you're on a low dose, and any side-effects you have will be mild and they'll go away once you're off the drug. With polymyalgia rheumatica, patients feel 100 times better once they've started to take the prednisone....they often say it's a miracle!

Did your doctor also check for inflammation of the artery in temples...i.e. temporal arteritis. This is associated with polymyalgia rheumatica. You have to watch out for things like scalp tenderness, jaw claudication (pain in the jaw when it's being used...i.e. chewing), amaurosis fugax (sudden visual loss in one of the eyes).

[jakejake1]

Originally Posted by Joan6

I thought my pain in arms, shoulders and hips was being caused by Fosamax 70mg and have stopped it two weeks ago. My Dr. after looking at my blood work believes that I have Polymyalgia Rheumatica and would like me to start on a low dosage of Prednisone. I am terrified of having to take prednisone. Any suggestions.

12.5mg of rofecoxib twice a day works for me - safer than prednisone.

[jakejake1]

12.5mg twice a day of rofecoxib works for me - safer than prednisone