Polymyalgia Rheumatica - Does anyone have swollen sore hands as a side effect to taking Prednisone?

My Rhuemy says body makes 8 to 9. That is why people on long term use have such a difficult time getting off. The adrenals shut down after that amount of prednisone is higher and they shrink. Longer the pred, the less functional they become. A taper is a balance between flaring the target disease and waiting for the adrenals to slowly build up again. It can take a year to go from ten to none. Many of is are unable to get off because the disease is worse than the side effects of prednisone. I sure do know what that is like. Going to eight years soon on medium to high dose.

The cataracts will disappear after one is off. These are a special yellow tissue cataract and not the same as the ones caused by a long life of UV. My eye doctor says if it gets bad enough, and for me it has been slow, he would do the cataract surgery if needed. Then I will be free of both types. :-)

Thanks for the reply, and please no disrespect but all people are diff. Too much Prednisone can wreak havoc on a persons systemic system. If a different anti-inflammatory will work for you, any doctor on the planet will have you on it instead.Most doctors are scared to even prescribe it for a long period of time or n high doses, like 60mg day.On average a male produces "about" 5mg of prednisone naturally. For a person on this steroid for long periods like us,you would start to taper by 20mg for 5days - 15mgx5days- 10mgx5days then decrease 1mg every 2weeks. If you are feeling well you can decrease 1mg a week. I have UVitis and are on humira a (non steroid anti inflammatory) along w Prednisone. What I experienced trying to taper off to soon was extreme fatigue & sea sick feeling. I slept and didn't feel well enough to get out of bed for days. I then had to up the dose & continue.Sorry to thread jack off subject