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← Return to PMR relapse symptoms
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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 4 hours ago | Replies (42)
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The first time, I didn’t know what was happening, so I tried stretching, exercises, acupuncture, etc. It got worse and worse until I finally had bloodwork drawn with high sed rate, etc and started prednisone and symptoms resolved overnight. The other times, I knew what was happening, so was diagnosed earlier. My fear is always GCA and did have some symptoms and a biopsy during my 3rd bout.
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"My fear is always GCA and did have some symptoms and a biopsy during my 3rd bout."
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I'm mostly over my fear of GCA even though my ophthalmologist and rheumatologist always screen me for signs and symptoms of GCA. I see both specialists fairly often. I have another autoimmune condition that can cause vision loss. It is called uveitis.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/uveitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20378734
After more than 30 flares of uveitis followed by a long period of remission, I'm confident I can achieve remission as long as it is treated quickly with a high dose of Prednisone. I recognize uveitis flares so I know what to do when it flares up again. I'm confident that I can taper off Prednisone quickly when uveitis flares up. "Short term" prednisone isn't such a bad thing.
I'm more worried about PMR because that involved "long term" prednisone use. After I was diagnosed with PMR, I needed Prednisone for 12 years and had many of the side effects. Fortunately, I'm now on a biologic with minimal side effects to treat PMR. I have refractory PMR so a biologic was tried.
https://www.the-rheumatologist.org/article/how-to-treat-refractory-polymyalgia-rheumatica/
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The biologic I'm taking also seems to prevent my uveitis flares. Now my worst fear is that the biologic might stop working.