← Return to 3 1/2 years of chronic pain~ Still looking for solutions~please help

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@nowforyou

Good morning,
Thank you so very much for all of the wonderful information. I am going to be 61 in a few days so I was definitely over 50 when this started 3 and 1/2 years ago.

My CK was high but not off the charts high when they performed the test about a month after going off simvastatin. They have performed a CPK, CK as well as said rates several times over the last few years and they're not out of range anymore.

I have never been on oral prednisone, other than a few months before all this started and I had some sort of virus in my lungs according to the pulmonologist. I couldn't breathe and they had to put me on oxygen, a nebulizer and prednisone for a couple weeks. Never was determined what I had. In light of COVID emerging a few months after that, they now say that it may have been COVID.

It's a tough situation indeed. And I have a lot of respect and empathy for anyone going through this. If I spend too long sitting even by 10 minutes too long, I pay for it for the rest of the day.

Hopefully I will be able to get some answers this Wednesday when I speak with my MD.

Thanks again for all your help! And good luck with your journey.
Kate

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Replies to "Good morning, Thank you so very much for all of the wonderful information. I am going..."

I hope you get help. PMR can also lead to GCA. Swelling of your temporal artery that can cause blindness. Many believe COVID started their PMR. Mine started 2 weeks after the vaccine. Who knows? Doctors have no idea. Stress most likely. My ESR and Sed Rate were not elevated . My HS-CRP was elevated but the Dr would not attribute that to PMR. Point is many do not have any markers. Pain will usually start in one place but moves throughout the body. I could barely move anything by time I started steroids. Xrays and MRI's will show some bursitis. PMR is not considered a muscle wasting disease but lack of activity can be. Be careful of cortisone shots. My orthopedic Dr told me they will eat up the joint. I used dexamethasone as my steroid. Relief in about 4 hrs. You need to start with a fairly high dose to see if it works but quickly taper to where the pain is just manageable. Then continue to try to decrease dosage. The steroids can be worse than the PMR. But they give your life back. I have no experience with newer drugs such as Kevzara. I was able to wean off Dex in 6 months. I have had 2 small flares. but basically pain free the last 2 years. I saw Michael Pham at Phoenix Mayo. John has sent plenty of links but here is another.
Good Luck Mike.
https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/polymyalgia-rheumatica#:~:text=Polymyalgia%20rheumatica%20(PMR)%20is%20an,%2C%20and%2For%20pelvic%20girdle.