Exercise

Hello Tucker! I've been feeling a bit sad and depressed this past week after recently being possibly diagnosed with PMR. I've been spending a lot of time researching the condition as well as discovering forums like this one to help me better cope and accept. After reading your response, I found a lot of encouragement because we have traveled similar journeys. At an early age, I had two lower back discs ruptured two years in a row. I decided to take an aggressive action plan and dedicate myself to a life of fitness and health. For the last thirty to thirty-five years, I have become a fitness enthusiast ... weekly bootcamp classes, HIIT classes, heavy gym workouts, rowing marathons, running, sprinting, jumping rope -- you name it, and I probably tried it and / or still do it. A month ago I was at a really good peak of conditioning as I was training for an indoor rowing marathon. A week after the marathon, my body completely shut down and became immobile. It truly scared me. How could I be at the height of my conditioning and then become frail and weak? I visited many doctors and all of them simply felt I had overexerted myself and sent me home with new pain killers (none of them worked). Everything was a physical struggle for me ... walking, getting in and out of my car, getting dressed, picking things off the floor, writing on the whiteboard (I'm a teacher), raising my arms, sitting, standing, putting on shoes ... I went from being able to easily perform 15 to 20 pull-ups and 50 push-ups to not even being able to hold my body weight in plank position or hang on the pull up bar. Last week a doctor suggested that my symptoms might be related to PMR, so like many other people on this site, he prescribed Prednisone. I did regain a lot of mobility quickly, but after reading all the information about Prednisone, I returned to that place of fear and worry again. Perhaps what worries me the most is that fitness and exercise have been my safe place to escape my workaholic lifestyle. I've tried to be very cautious about returning to exercise (especially since I am now 61 years old). Your story honestly gave me a source of hope that I too will be able to once again rejoin the fitness community and the exercise regime that I once enjoyed a few weeks ago. I'm even a certified NASM personal trainer, so all of this is very humbling to me and all the goals I have tried to achieve by aging with a healthy lifestyle. Thank you for sharing your story online, and thank you for being an example of hope for me as I learn to battle and deal with this possible diagnosis. I could really use a friend right now, so I hope my words reach your heart as well. In sincere appreciation!!

thanks for your concern. I have always had high cholesterol. I tried lipitor 25 years ago and it made me really sick. I cant take a statin. So I thought a 230-240 total cholesterol was not bad. I was not treating it. Then I find out I had all this blockage. I found that out because the steroids from PMR made my cholesterol go up to 300. So they sent me to a cardiologist who discovered the blockage. I had all this work done at Mayo clinic. Mayo put me on Repatha. A once a month injection. No side effects so far. My total cholesterol is 120 and LDL is 55. My 2 year scan recently was clean. GBM is a terminal cancer. She is on hospice. They gave her 6 months almost 4 years ago.

Hello Tucker! I've been feeling a bit sad and depressed this past week after recently being possibly diagnosed with PMR. I've been spending a lot of time researching the condition as well as discovering forums like this one to help me better cope and accept. After reading your response, I found a lot of encouragement because we have traveled similar journeys. At an early age, I had two lower back discs ruptured two years in a row. I decided to take an aggressive action plan and dedicate myself to a life of fitness and health. For the last thirty to thirty-five years, I have become a fitness enthusiast ... weekly bootcamp classes, HIIT classes, heavy gym workouts, rowing marathons, running, sprinting, jumping rope -- you name it, and I probably tried it and / or still do it. A month ago I was at a really good peak of conditioning as I was training for an indoor rowing marathon. A week after the marathon, my body completely shut down and became immobile. It truly scared me. How could I be at the height of my conditioning and then become frail and weak? I visited many doctors and all of them simply felt I had overexerted myself and sent me home with new pain killers (none of them worked). Everything was a physical struggle for me ... walking, getting in and out of my car, getting dressed, picking things off the floor, writing on the whiteboard (I'm a teacher), raising my arms, sitting, standing, putting on shoes ... I went from being able to easily perform 15 to 20 pull-ups and 50 push-ups to not even being able to hold my body weight in plank position or hang on the pull up bar. Last week a doctor suggested that my symptoms might be related to PMR, so like many other people on this site, he prescribed Prednisone. I did regain a lot of mobility quickly, but after reading all the information about Prednisone, I returned to that place of fear and worry again. Perhaps what worries me the most is that fitness and exercise have been my safe place to escape my workaholic lifestyle. I've tried to be very cautious about returning to exercise (especially since I am now 61 years old). Your story honestly gave me a source of hope that I too will be able to once again rejoin the fitness community and the exercise regime that I once enjoyed a few weeks ago. I'm even a certified NASM personal trainer, so all of this is very humbling to me and all the goals I have tried to achieve by aging with a healthy lifestyle. Thank you for sharing your story online, and thank you for being an example of hope for me as I learn to battle and deal with this possible diagnosis. I could really use a friend right now, so I hope my words reach your heart as well. In sincere appreciation!!

I started strength resistance training, impact, balance, and posture, 2 years ago when I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I really increased the amount of workout time and the amount of effort about a year and a half ago. I was never sore after I worked out because I had a personal trainer who worked with me to make sure I wasn't doing something that was too much or too many reps. As my trainer changes my program every 6 to 8 weeks I increase the weights after I feel comfortable and or the wraps. The only time that I'm sore after a workout is if I've done too much or if I've walked too many miles too quickly. However I always warm up before I work out and stretch afterwards hopefully that's helping

@maryandnans May I ask if you are and were taking osteo meds? I was diagnosed in '17 and have not taken them. Also never took steroids for PMR.
Lucky you to have found a good trainer. I gave up after trying 7 different Physical Therapists and a couple of personal trainers, also 1 Pilates instructor (licensed, etc) who promised she could help me put together an osteo-safe regimen. All 7 promised that but then refused when I got there in person. Very frustrating.
Living in DC metro area, one would think that was a no-brainer.
I just do the best I can, am careful and really research everything.

@glinda47
I have not taken OP drugs. I will find out if all my work is helping my osteoporosis in May. When I first started I started with brickhouse Bones on Facebook. Dr Lisa Moore is the personal trainer there and she also has low bone mass. She also has a YouTube channel that has all her exercises on it. Then after I did that for a while that's when I started with the personal trainer and I had some knowledge of exercises that I should not do because of the osteoporosis. If you can't find somebody that you trust I would suggest start with her work at your house and then see you learn some knowledge and then go from there. Some things I have to remind my trainer that it is not okay to do with osteoporosis and she changes it up.

I don't know what did more harm --- PMR or prednisone.

Since PMR is a condition that usually doesn't cause permanent damage to joints or muscles then I need to hold prednisone responsible for some of the harm. In my case, some of the blame must be pinned on inflammatory arthritis too. I hope underlying inflammatory arthritis isn't pertinent to most people with PMR.

I'm off prednisone but my rheumatologist says I still have PMR. I'm still being treated for PMR but I'm on a biologic instead of prednisone. I want to put prednisone behind me along with my battle with daily pain. Yes, prednisone relieved most of my pain. However, if I didn't take prednisone the pain would return. Frankly, the pain would return before it was time for my next prednisone dose. I waged this battle for more than 12 years.

The biologic I currently take for PMR has helped me tremendously. Not being treated with prednisone has made a world of difference in my ability to exercise. I can do so much more now compared to when I was still taking prednisone. When I was still on prednisone, I didn't exercise at all because the fatigue was just too overwhelming. The fatigue had to be caused by adrenal insufficiency assuming I still have PMR like my rheumatologist says.

My excercise is mostly aquacise these days but I also do resistance exercise with elastic bands. I also do aerobic excercise doing the treadmill, steps, and push-ups. I can do 50 pull-ups in the water which really helps my ego!

A physical therapist supervises an exercise class that I attend. I do at least an hour or more every day doing "something" that I consider to be exercise. I don't worry about overdoing anything or pacing myself. However, the exercise I currently do is a far cry from what I used to do when I was younger. I just turned 70 so I try to keep what exercise is feasible in perspective considering my age.

The biggest difference I notice is my recovery time. I can push myself pretty hard and I recover quickly. When I did anything remotely strenuous when I was on prednisone it would wipe me out immediately and I didn't recover until I slept for a few hours.

Delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is muscle pain that begins after you've worked out. It "normally" starts a day or two after a workout. I felt muscle pain within a few hours and it persisted for days so it wasn't normal. Sometimes I needed to increase my prednisone dose the next day if I did something too taxing. Almost anything required a lot of work so I avoided doing anything at all.

Now I have "normal DOMS" which actually makes me feel good. I feel like I accomplished something now when my muscles are a little sore the next day. I think prednisone wasted away my muscles and now I see a bit of muscle tone which is good for an old guy.

Reading these posts today were a quite timely for me. I am 78 year old female, diagnosed with PMR a year ago, have tapered to 2 mg prednisone and determined to go to zero. I am willing to endure some pain. I had a flare around holidays and realized it was due to stress. I changed things in my life to reduce stress and it worked. I had a bout with the flu but got over that. I had my COVID shot with no side effects. Now I focusing on returning to regular exercise but am having difficulty knowing what is too much and what is not enough. I am starting back on weight machines and reduced weight and it is going just fine. A bit stiff but not bad. I went swimming yesterday and this morning had more pain. It is more difficult to cut back with water exercises. I don't feel it while doing exercises and I really enjoy being in the water. I am trying to decide if I need a fitness coach and where to find one. Are physical therapists knowledgeable about PMR so that would be an option?