I felt like you having PMR for so long.....it's ten years now......but soon realized when I started to join in with the Mayo Clinic Group that I was not a freak .....well when you go and the Doctor and are told that it only lasts for eighteen months to two years and then you are well past the post and can't understand why you still have it and in my case very badly .....I found myself saying that I was better than I was because of this ......but of course the blood tests told them differently .....I have to say I felt so much better about myself after I found out that we are not all the same when I comes to illnesses and how drugs affect you ......As for the new Doc look on it as a new start , you have all the knowledge of your illness and must speak up if what the doc says is not right and doesn't go along with what has happened to you .....Doctors are learning from us and it is up to us to give them all the information we can ....having said all that good luck and keep smiling ......Beryl