PMR was diagnosed when I was 52 years old but it started when I was 51. There was some confusion about my diagnosis because I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis with uveitis at the age of 32. The confusion according to my GP at the time was because I was " like a crazy person that wanted prednisone." He apologized after PMR was diagnosed by a rheumatologist and said he thought it was PMR when he first met me. That was why he prescribed prednisone in the first place.

The problem was a rheumatologist initially said it was a flare of inflammatory arthritis. I don't blame anyone because I had a 20 year history of inflammatory arthritis and uveitis. My presentation was very complicated until a rheumatologist requested that I stop taking prednisone and come back to see her. I was only able to stop taking prednisone for two days before my next visit a week later. There were three rheumatologists at that visit and they all agreed that I had PMR.

I asked what happened to inflammatory arthritis. A rheumatologist said I still had inflammatory arthritis. Then she said it was "unfortunate" but now I had PMR in addition to inflammatory arthritis. She said once you have one autoimmune disorder it increases the risk of having another autoimmune disorder.

I have multiple autoimmune disorders. I took prednisone for 12 years to treat PMR. My rheumatologist referred to it as "systemic inflammation." I finally got off prednisone when a biologic was tried that targeted PMR. Technically, I still have PMR but the biologic controls it far better than prednisone ever did.