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Where have you experienced pain due to PMR?H
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jul 28 12:27pm | Replies (85)Comment receiving replies
@remargulies
My journey is similar to yours. I started with shoulder and neck pain which was diagnosed as a pinched nerve. I had X-rays to check for structural damage which I have plenty in my cervical spine. I went to a pain management specialist, had 5 weeks of PT, had an MRI showing the extent of my cervical spine issues, went to a neurosurgeon and then two others before one of them said my pain was not from my cervical spine and he ordered blood work. He thought I had an autoimmune disorder and my inflammation markers were off the charts. Five months after it all started I was having constant and extreme pain in my neck, shoulders and hip girdle. A rheumatologist finally diagnosed PMR. My journey didn't end there though. He saw blood work pointing to a blood disorder so he sent me to a hematologist oncologist. I also have SMM, so I can't be on prednisone. I'm starting kevzara this week.
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@kjoed53
It sounds like you have a good team of doctors. Often one doctor will diagnose PMR and that is the end of it. I understand that PMR is a "diagnosis of exclusion" however, I doubt everything else ever gets excluded. There would be too many medical conditions to exclude all of them. Many conditions mimic PMR or have symptoms that overlap with PMR
Patients get the impression everything else was excluded and prednisone is the "only option." We get told to take prednisone while we wait until PMR "burns itself out" which seems ridiculous to me. Prednisone doesn't cure many things and long term use tends to create additional problems. Prednisone is detrimental to many medical conditions if you have one in addition to PMR.
PMR was the start of many of my problems ...or was it prednisone? No way of knowing ... I guess.
I do know that I had another autoimmune condition before PMR was ever diagnosed. When I was diagnosed with PMR, my first question to my rheumatologist was, "What happened to my other autoimmune diagnosis?" as if my diagnosis was being changed. My rheumatologist was astute enough to say my other autoimmune diagnosis didn't go away. She said it was still there but "unfortunately now I had PMR too."
PMR doesn't exclude other medical problems. There is always the possibility that something else causes PMR symptoms or there is something else in addition to PMR. I think this may explain why everyone with PMR is different. There is an infinite combination of medical problems and things that can cause PMR-like pain.