What causes sore knees on Pred?

[karlyg]

I see a bunch of people have complained of sore knees when taking Prednisone. I've been on Prednisone for about a month now, having tapered from 40mg to 20mg (5mg at a time), and my knees seem to be getting more sore as I go down in dosages, which seems strange. It's mainly when I'm doing stairs or getting up off the ground if I have to kneel down for something. Anyone know why this happens? Thanks everyone!

 

[tiloah]

The only explanation I can come up with is there is inflammation in your joints and the Prednisone is keeping it at bay. As you taper off, the inflammation comes back, leading to pain and stiffness.

As I tapered off of Prednisone I had extreme, severe pain in my joints. I think one of the reasons it is worse tapering off than it was before you even took it was that your brain produced x amount of steroids before you took the drug. As you take Prednisone, your body stops producing its own. So as you taper down that gap isn't being replaced very quickly (this is why we taper slowly) and in between you going down on a dose and your body figuring that out, you get the pain/inflammation.

These are just guesses though, based on the information I have gathered over time.

 

[karlyg]

Makes sense to me - thanks for the input!

 

[D Bergy]

I had pain in only my right knee when ever I drop my Pred dosage. It only lasts for a day and it is gone. I suspect some pathogen is lurking in there, as I have treated that knee before for an infection.

I also end up with a huge headache the following day after dropping my dosage. I found out if I drink a lot of water before bed time, I can eliminate the headache.

Dan

 

[Chuck2008]

Sore knees is one of the symptoms that helped me get diagnosed with Crohns back in 1998.. Suddenly I had arthritis in both knees (at the backs if I recall), and also my wrists. Once I had to start crawling up the stairs I knew something was wrong and went to the emergency department. Prednisone cleared it all up in a couple hours when I started it, I was so thrilled I was running up the stairs. When you cut back on your prednisone your symptoms can rebound a little since the inflammation in your body increases, as the other poster mentioned, but your own body's cortisol production will increase eventually and you'll feel good again.

Whenever I tapered on prednisone, I had symptoms that almost felt like a relapse for 3 or 3 days after each taper. For me it was usually headaches, nausea, extreme fatigue, and a wierd lightheadedness- I would see stars if I got up too quickly etc. Quite unpleasant but it always goes away.

 

[Johnnysmom]

My son had the same issues at about the same time in his Prednisone taper. Sometimes knees, ankles or hip. It went away once he got down to about 10mg (he started at 40). I don't know what caused it but it caused him a lot of discomfort and it did completely go away once he stopped the prednisone. I hope it is the same for you.

Tiffany