My pain progressed the same way except I didn't have any Prednisone to take like I usually did for pain. First, one shoulder ached and all day long I carried one arm with the other arm. I felt like I needed a sling for my bad arm. The next day both shoulders ached and I decided two slings wasn't practical and I couldn't put a sling on anyway. I needed help getting out of a chair and wiping was impossible. After about a week I couldn't get out of bed and get dressed without a lot of help.

My only doctor at the time was my ophthalmologist who always prescribed Prednisone for uveitis. I didn't think I needed any other kind of doctor so I listed my ophthalmologist as my primary care doctor. I couldn't call that doctor because I didn't have uveitis. I was angry with myself because I had discarded my entire stash of Prednisone about 2 weeks prior to all of this. I simply decided that I wasn't going to take Prednisone anymore

My wife hated that I took so much Prednisone before PMR was diagnosed. She made an appointment for me to see her primary care doctor without telling me. I wasn't too happy but she was going with me to the appointment so I wouldn't leave out any details.

All I said was that I needed prednisone but that didn't go over well with my wife's primary care doctor. My wife told her the details and they agreed that I needed a rheumatologist. As you have said in the past ... I was busted when I confessed to self medicating with prednisone for years.

I blamed the whole ordeal on not having Prednisone to take. I felt vindicated when the rheumatologist said I would need Prednisone for a year or two. I didn't need to hoard Prednisone anymore but I had no idea what PMR was. I had significantly elevated inflammation markers so at least I didn't have to contend with convincing someone I was in some serious pain.