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Diagnosed with PMR 16 days ago.
After weeks of struggle, I was diagnosed with PMR on 17 June 2025, 16 days ago. The emergency doctor prescribed 20 mg of prednisone and he gave me two weeks worth. The first week it seemed to work well I started the day in a little bit of pain, but by mid morning 10-11 AM, I started to feel good After the first week however, it took longer and longer into the day before I would get any relief sometimes 3 to 4 in the afternoon. I had to call my primary care physician as a result, and after some discussion and hesitancy on his part, we upped the dose to 30 mg as of this past Saturday The first two days I felt like given that the dose had been raised, I was surprised to not get as much relief as I was expecting. But starting late Monday and then come Tuesday and Wednesday I was actually doing quite well. I would wake up a little sore and there was no decline from the time I took the medication to the point where it would then kick in so I was feeling rather optimistic. That was until last evening, 2 July, and into today. I started feeling much stiffer than I would’ve expected for the time of day and by the time I had gotten up in the morning, I was so stiff that I was back to a debilitated state. Not sure what to make of this. I would’ve thought that the 30 mg would’ve would’ve continued working like they had the two previous days but for some reason, I’ve just had a big setback. I do have a doctors appointment today but I do not know what’s gonna come of that appointment cause my doctor is very hesitant to play around with prednisone. Any suggestions would be helpful thank you.
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Yes, the first two GPs knew nothing about PMR and their ‘treatment plans’ made me feel worse. It was a PA that saw the osteoarthritis in my hands and sent me to the rheumatologist. Lucky!
Recently diagnosed with PMR in May. After months and months of repeating the same symptoms to my PCP. Everything hurts. I wake up 3 times a night in excruciating pain. I was referred to a Rheumatologist who prescribed prednisone and it is like a miracle drug. My correct diagnosis and treatment took a Rheumatologist.
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3 ReactionsHow tragic that you had to suffer that long !
I thought that all PCP ‘s would order blood tests ( Sed rate and CRP ) to check the level of inflammation in your body .
Were you able to ask your Dr. why they did not order these blood tests for you while suffering from so much pain ?
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1 ReactionMy pain started 20 days after a cardiologist quadrupled my statin dose. I stopped the statin thinking it would subside in a week or so. After 6 months my PCP suspected the statins had triggered PMR and after checking my sed rate, etc started me on 15 mg prednisone. In three days I was and have remained pain free as we slowly taper. ( down to 4mg).
My PCP is great but unfortunately he will be retiring in 6 months.
There is a shortage of Internists because of poor reimbursement rates and increased documentation required to satisfy insurance companies to get paid. My internist said he didn’t go to school to spend more time with documentation than the time he can treat patients
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5 ReactionsVery true! There is a chronic nursing shortage for the same reason.
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1 ReactionIn my case, the doctors did not know enough to order the correct blood tests. There are many different tests that can be done with blood, I now know. The first doctor was also impossible to communicate with, so I never got back to her. The second (his pa) I gave a copy of the educational material that the rheumatologist gave me. I am now on my third doctor who knows about PMR because she worked in a hospital for several years. Serendipity.
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