Why did your rheumatologist doubt if PMR was the correct diagnosis?

PMR is a diagnosis of exclusion when nothing else explains your symptoms. If there are doubts about the PMR diagnosis, I would think a doctor would suspect something else. A "fast response" to Prednisone or a "not so fast response" isn't much to go on for making a PMR diagnosis or changing the diagnosis.

I raised my own doubts about my diagnosis of PMR after it persisted for years. I thought PMR was supposed to burn itself out in a couple of years. At one stage, I didn't think I had PMR anymore and "tactfully accused" my rheumatologist that she only prescribed me Prednisone because she thought prednisone was what I wanted. I'm glad my rheumatologist was very patient with me because I wasn't patient with her sometimes. I just wanted to be done with Prednisone after 10 years. My rheumatologist said PMR was "refractory" in response to my complaints of being on Prednisone for so long.

Now I'm on Actemra and PMR is still my "primary diagnosis." However, my problem has been called "systemic inflammation" and a "full range of rheumatology problems " in the past.