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@walterl
I've had some of those same thoughts since I have other conditions that give me grief from time to time. I also have degenerative disc disease and arthritis along with carpal tunnel in both hands. I had my right knee replaced due to bone on bone pain. My left knee is also bone on bone but I don't have any pain so am choosing to leave it be for now. I think all we can do is take things day by day and do the best we can along with eating healthy and staying active. I do try to limit inflammatory foods and sugar but I do have my days.
Hoping all of those in remission from this disease can stay that way.
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@johnbishop
I started with carpal tunnel symptoms then progressed to PMR in the fall of 2025. Started on prednisone in December, 2025. Dx with carpal tunnel in March 2026. Prednisone took away the pain of the carpal tunnel but not the numbness in the finger tips. Currently at a taper of 2.5 mg, wearing splints on my hands at night since March. Finger tips have improved, still wrist pain and hand weakness. Dr. is referring me to surgery. How did you deal with your carpal tunnel?
I have some spine issues , psoriasis, epilepsy, age 78.
@johnbishop
I have been in remission since I took my last 0.5 mg dose of prednisone in late July. I want to thank the Mayo Clinic PMR group for their support and encouragement, particularly when I was in the early stages of PMR and dealing with GCA also. There were so many questions and seemed to be so few clear answers. In retrospect, I feel I was blessed with a very easy journey with PMR and GCA, and realize this is often not the case for many people. I would say, though, that worrying about a recurrence of the disease is to prolong the suffering it causes. The Bible tells us not to worry about tomorrow; each day has enough worries of its own. I think that is good advice. We don't know what the future holds, but ongoing worry makes us continue to suffer from PMR/GCA.
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@johnbishop
Are you sure PMR was all you had? I had advanced degenerative arthritis in my knees that was detected at a ripe age of 35. I had some sports injuries in high school that accounted for the arthritis in one knee but not both knees. I had to wait until I was at least 60 years old to get my knees replaced.
My spine was different. I didn't know that I had a "bad back" in the degenerative sense. I never had any trauma to my back. I had significant back pain which I attributed to autoimmune problems. Prednisone relieved my back pain quickly whenever the pain was severe. I didn't think any damage was done because I never experienced any "mechanical pain."
I still don't understand how all of my degenerative disc disease happened. I have severe spinal stenosis and I need a multi-level lumbar fusion. The surgeon says it is all "degenerative arthritis." However, over time, the damage caused by inflammatory arthritis from autoimmune disease starts to look the same as degenerative arthritis.
I haven't received any definitive answers but my understanding is that there is a late-stage convergence of inflammatory arthritis with degenerative arthritis. Over many years or decades, chronic inflammatory arthritis causes secondary joint destruction which looks nearly identical to primary degenerative arthritis on X-rays. I'm not sure how they know if the damage was caused by inflammation or if it was degenerative.
The treatment for both inflammatory and degenerative arthritis converges over time too. A total joint replacement is typically the gold standard solution regardless of how the damage started.
It has always intrigued me how people diagnosed with PMR find out later they have a lot of osteoarthritis. The osteoarthritis shows up when they try to taper off Prednisone.