Lower back pain? Caused by steroid taper???

The last two weeks I have been having rather severe lower back pain when I stand or walk. Could this be related to my steroid taper? It started with I dropped down to alternating between 10 and 20 mg. Now it is worse after the second week of that. I am beginning a straight 10mg this week. I am wondering if it will get even worse than it is on that? Also my knees seem less stable.

Roberta,

When they "tapered" me down I thought it was too fast, but I was just so glad to be off of prednisone that I was all for it. When I was on it there was one really good side effect. My arthritis pain was completely gone! When I started off the prednisone it came back, with a vengeance.

I have it in my back and most joints. Level 3 and some 4. I have one other odd thing, I have an extra lower vertebrae, about 3% of people have one. It is just another place for arthritis.

I asked my doc about the pain and he said that he was only comfortable with me taking Tylenol or Arthritis Strength Tylenol for it. It does help a little but not a lot.

I am re reading the Anti Inflammatory Diet book again. It seems to help some too, slow in working but helpful. Just a thought.

Hang tough kid! And congrats on the great counts. If you have spares send some to me!

Jeffrey

Prednisone is probably the cause. As Jeffrey said, it's a great anti-inflammatory but when you go down in dose, everything comes back worse than it was before. It will subside in time.

I also had jello legs for quite a while. I remember being so weak that I could barely sit at my desk at work all day. Some days I even felt that laying down was an effort...sounds funny, but true!

I also follow an anti-inflammatory diet. NO nightshades. It has made a difference in the muscle pain I experience from Lupus. I still have bad days, but not as many as I did before.

I always get muscle and joint pain with a steroid taper. For me it gets worse at 10mg and lasts for weeks after I am off. For me doing some mild stretching exercises everyday helps a bit. Also a heating pad helps.

I am going to ask Doc #2 for hydrocodone to take to Disney World with me. I can't see walking around all day in back pain. What an enjoyable time!

It might get better if the taper stops for a while. Things tend to clear up when you are on a stable dose for a while. I'm not sure how much good Vicodin would do since it's not an anti-inflammatory. It barely touches the inflammation I have, which is why I'm on permanent Prednisone and Naproxen.

Hydrocodone worked really well for me for the pain I had after my picc line was twisted sideways by what another RN called "silly" and I called far worse than that. Also worked the night I had the bone marrow aspiration done for the soreness. I'm not concerned with it being anti-inflammatory. I just want it to take away pain.

the taper is supposed to stay at 10 from now until I get back July 11th. Then I guess they'll do another CBC and see what they want to do.

I understand that. But the pain you are feeling now is because you are missing anti-inflammatory properties in your body that Prednisone provided. From my experience, only another anti-inflammatory will help that. I guess you could try it and see, but I wouldn't wait until you are on the trip to find out.

I take Hydrocodone daily, four of them, but they don't work very well at all for inflammatory pain. I use Prednisone and Naproxen for that.

I know the plan is to keep tapering, but I honestly think that due to the circumstances of your trip, it might be best to talk to your doctor about holding off on further tapers. Having jello legs the whole time won't be much fun either and you can't help that. The taper schedule is not a rule set in stone.

But I've never had back pain before, so why now? If I did not need an anti-inflammatory before, why now? My doctor has suggested I stay at 10mg until I return in July.

Roberta,

Sorry for the pain! The pain I have had is finally getting a little better but it has been several weeks. It sounds very similar to what you are going through. But it is getting some better, just slow.

The whole thing just stinks but it is what all of us here have to deal with on a daily basis, that is our common thread. Keep the faith! It sounds like you have a good doctor. Prednisone is just a nasty drug.

Jeffrey

Where did you go on your cruise, Jeffrey?

I can't really explain why it happens, it just does. Most people do experience some joint and muscle pain while tapering, sometimes the whole body is affected, or just the knees or the neck....it varies. Sometimes when I'm having a really bad day, I take 40 mg's and I'm good in an hour or two. The drug can be quite amazing in that way, but ends up causing more problems down the line.

Good that you are now staying at 10 until you get back. You might be fine in a few days or weeks when your body gets used to the last taper. Sometimes the taper is worse than the high doses. It gets harder the lower you go, but alternating the dose as you've been doing makes it even easier. If you'd been going faster and not alternating, you'd probably be worse off than you are now.

Everyone gets through it. This too shall pass.

I never have back pain except during a steroid taper. That is a good idea to just stay at 10mg til you get back. The pain you are having should get better as your body adjusts to the steroid dose. You should be fine at Disney

I'm having muscle pain and very bad headache today with my taper of 20mg to 15 mg this week. Then I got a cold/sore throat and I gave in to it all and stayed home from work today. I hardly ever do that.

RHofm50129 wrote: Where did you go on your cruise, Jeffrey?

Roberta,

This last one we did was a "repeat". We went to Progresso and Cozumel out of New Orleans. We were on the Elation. Nice ship, a little small, but nice. We had a good trip. We went to Uxmal ruins in Progresso. Definitely a must do! We like that kind of stuff.

2 days ago, Players Club offered me and my wife a free cruise in June. One is a 12 day Med cruise out of Barcelona. I don't think my wife can get off work for it this quick. I know waaaaay toooo much about casinos!



Jeffrey

I picked up a sore throat and cold about a month ago. The sore throat was mild and left after a few days, but the cough has hung on. Oddly enough, I generally cough for hours in the morning and then have a fit occasionally the rest of the day. it is weird.

Go for the cruise. Barcelona is a marvelous, marvelous city and the port is right in town, very easy to get to. We have taken two cruises out of Barcelona, the one out to Egypt and the one to the Canary Islands. Which is the one you are offered? Probably the latter, I'm guessing.

Have been to Uxmal and couple times and Chichen Itza which, of course, is amazing. Did you go there, too? We went first in 1972, drove outselves 2300 km through Mexico-- could not do that now! Went back in the 80's and again in the 90's and almost nothing had changed at either ruin except Chichen's road had been altered and it was all overgrown (au naturel).

Love, love, love cruising. The July cruise is maybe #26. I have lost track. It will be our grandsons' third cruise. We took them on a Disney Bahamas two years ago on the marvelous Dream. Then last year on Carnival Imagination to Key West and Cozumel. Now we are back on Disney in July and have booked Carnival Dream to Belize, Honduras, Cozumel and Costa Maya with the boys. They are 7 and 9 and also love cruising. What's not to like! Right now it costs little to take them with us, as we are all in the same room, but in a couple years, that will change! We are making hay while the sun shines. Love to travel with them.

I had lower back pain during taper as well as muscle/joint pain, extreme weakness and fatigue. I've been off of them 2 months and am so much better. I've even lost 6 pounds.

I do sometimes get back pain after Nplate injections. It feels like I can actually feel platelets being produced its kind of weird.

I'm with you. that's weird!!