You’re right; your situation does sound like PMR. May be worth at least setting an appointment with a rheumatologist (since that can take a while) and get their take on it. There are other medications for PMR, but prednisone is the first choice like we’ve all been talking about.

My dad was well (relatively so for his age, in his 70’s). We have a huge vegetable garden around our house, he mowed the lawn, plowed the snow, cooked almost every day, etc.

PMR was either a slow burn, or he had just started taking statins at the time, so what began as his mild muscle pain was thought to be a side effect of the statin, until even after stopping it the pain got drastically worse.

Either way, the diagnosis was bungled in our opinion. It’s one thing to get it confused with the statin situation, but after his ESR and CRP labs went through the roof, I was able to diagnose it from Google. But his PCP was clueless and about to refer him to a hematologist for however long that would have taken. Even after we raised the issue of PMR, he was skeptical.

I feel despite it being common, it often gets overlooked because PMR affects seniors and their pain and fatigue is dismissed.

Thanks for your kind words. We are doing our best. Unfortunately a stroke is permanent. It’s not helpful to second guess what happened but it’s hard not to wonder how things might have turned out if he had been diagnosed immediately instead of in 4-6 weeks and assessed properly for GCA.

I do hope you find a path forward that works for you, regardless of what that looks like.