fracture / osteo / pred? | Arthritis Information

Hello to all, been a while but I do keep in touch reading your posts ect. and can relate to the good, the bad and the ugly days we all have. Been on pred since March 06 and now at 5 then 4mg alternate days. ESR gone back up so have to continue with this even though I want to reduce Pred... but do need it for the pain.

Tried to pick up a bucket of water April 08 ..severe pain in upper back.

Xray result :( very short version) 20% anterior wedging T10 . T9 -T10 disc space anterior osteophytes. May be due to osteoporosis or previous trauma. Lumber Lordosis is prominent

So now have osteo, fracture and of course PMR. Great!

63 year old female, overweight from pred ( well not all.. gave up smoking in February)and now as my Dr said when I stupidly asked him how long does the fracture take to heal ?

"It does'nt and have you heard of the Dowagers Back?" Well B..........( bugger) just in case you did not know I am Australian. ( Hope we can say that here )

I now taking Protos, after not being able to tolerate the numerous other bone building drugs I tried.

I do sincerely hope no one else has osteo and to all hope you are having a , GOOD DAY

Lyn

Hi Lyn,

I'm in my second year with this bugger of a disease and I haven't felt that the pred was much help. I'm at 2.5mg daily and refuse to go higher. I never call my rhuemy when in pain because I know what he'll say.....increase the pred, add Methotrexate, etc. I tried "Serrapeptace" and it worked wonders for one week, but when I lowered the dosage, I found myself once again stiff and painfull. Anti-inflamms cause my bp to go up and I believe that is due to my doctor keeping me on 75mg of dicolfenac twice daily for 8 months. What to do? I decided that the inflammation was causing this problem and I had to deal with that FIRST, so I took one Aleve twice a day and the following morning felt a little nervous....knew it had to be my bp, so I reduced the aleve to half a tablet twice a day and I feel great. I wonder how many of us immediately increase the pred when in pain and not reach for an Aleve or similar product. I have an upcoming cruise in August and have wondered how I'm going to join in the shore excursions that I've paid for and one that starts at 7am.....thought seriously of cancelling that one because I was afraid I wouldn't be well enough at that time in the morning. Now I'm up early, down the stairs and walking my dogs before 8am without much of a problem. I experiment with lots of stuff, but pred isn't one of them. My doctor isn't pleased with me because he says I don't allow him to be the doctor. Lucky me!

For a while I was taking Tylenol a non NSAID, but found that it eventually took some of the pain away, but did nothing for the inflammation. The Aleve is a NSAID and is working at only half a tablet twice daily. I have found that as we get older our bodies don't handle the amounts of meds as it once did. The same with alcohol.

I'm sorry to hear the problems that you are having, but congratulate you on stopping smoking.....that is never easy. Take care, Susan

Thanks Susan for your kind words and I really hope you have a wonderful cruise. I have been back to Dr yesterday

ESR up.. Cholesterol up...Blood Pressure up... and to have Xray, maybe another fracture T4/5. and pred down to 4mgs.

I think I understand your expression" What to do? "

Lyn....congratulations of quitting smoking. That is one big thing you don't have to worry about. You really do have it rough, I hope you are feeling a bit better. I've had PMR since Aug 06 and was off Pred in six months and off Methotrexate because I couldn't take that either. It was pretty rough sometimes, I used NSAIDs and aspirin. You are doing good getting the Pred down to 4mgs. I don't think that much of a dose is too hard on your body as the big doses we took when we first were diagnosed. Just keep going Mary (hugs)Thanks Mary for your words of encouragement and , Hello to all.

I am having a lot more pain now that Im down to 4mg. Shoulders are the worse and this morning eye twitch is back. This has not happened for a long time and just wondering does anyone have this...in outside triangle of eye skin. I suppose there is a muscel there as well.

I am taking Protos.. Strontium Ranelate now for osteoporosis . Anyone else on this? Also I have been on Digesic for years for pain relief for lordosis,and now for PMR, anyone tried this?

Hoping today is a good day for you!