In retrospect ... I think the common denominator was inflammation. It doesn't really matter what diagnosis you have because inflammatory pain isn't good wherever it happens.

Trigeminal neuralgia is associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) which is also an autoimmune condition involving nerves. I didn't have MS but I certainly had trigeminal neuralgia.

My rheumatologist hardly ever referred to any specific diagnosis although she said PMR was my primary diagnosis. More often than not she referred to my condition as "systemic inflammation" as if the inflammation had no boundaries.

I think we would all be better off if the focus of treatment was to treat the inflammation and not a diagnosis. There are many mechanisms that can cause pain from inflammation. They are referred to as "inflammation pathways" that are regulated by a complex network of cytokines. For PMR/GCA the IL-6 cytokine is implicated the most.

In my case the medication that blocked the effects of the IL-6 cytokine also has stopped my PMR symptoms. It was more complicated than that but I'm much better than I was. At least my symptoms have stopped which was something prednisone never accomplished in more than 12 years.