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@rosemargaret

This was an excellent and informative presentation, especially for those unfamiliar with the disease or those who question the weird, recurring symptoms. I wish he had touched on the severe fatigue and weakness that accompanies PMR as it is also quite debilitating. I will defintely refer this to anyone who has no clue regarding PMR.

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Replies to "This was an excellent and informative presentation, especially for those unfamiliar with the disease or those..."

"I wish he had touched on the severe fatigue and weakness that accompanies PMR as it is also quite debilitating."
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I'm not so sure PMR does that. Maybe GCA causes this problem but I was never diagnosed with GCA. I agree that severe fatigue and weakness is a huge problem and it was debilitating for me too.

The presenter pointed out that muscle strength is normal in newly diagnosed patients with PMR. Historically, they did muscle biopsies but the muscles were normal so biopsies are no longer indicated for PMR. Muscle biopsies are done for other disorders but not PMR.

I don't think PMR made me excessively tired. I didn't experience severe fatigue until a year or two after PMR was diagnosed. It hurt to move but prednisone took care of that problem. Prednisone also energized me so I didn't have a normal sleep pattern. Sleep deprivation gradually gave way to exhaustion but that all stemmed from insomnia caused by prednisone.

I was tested for exercise intolerance about a year after being diagnosed with PMR. My exercise tolerance test was interpreted as normal. I carried on with my exercise routine as if everything was normal. I was doing a long distance bicycle ride when I thought I was going to die from absolute exhaustion. That exhaustion stemmed from prednisone induced high blood pressure. I shouldn't have carried on as normal when I was taking prednisone.

In my opinion, most of the severe fatigue and weakness was caused by adrenal insufficiency. In any case, all of that has improved tremendously since I was able to taper off prednisone. As far as I know, I still have PMR because I'm still being treated except not with prednisone anymore.