Hi Ethan. I am new to the group and really appreciate the perspectives and experiences expressed here. I am a 73 year old white male with no known Viking genes [ha ha?]. Further health-related context: Developed symptoms of Ankylosing Spondylitis in my mind-twenties and have managed it over the decades with the help of the physical therapy, the VA, and some great PCP's and rheumatologists. I am basically fused from the mid-thorax to the neck...but not too bent over. My days of painting ceilings and catching pop fly balls are over, but with the fusing, the pain has subsided quite a bit. Over the years I have taken just about every type of medication including biologics but as the AS inflammation decreased, so also did the pain. So much for AS.

Regarding PMR, it came on me around Memorial Day 2020 and the most interesting thing to me is that I presented with almost the exact text book symptoms and experiences as those documented on this board as well as all over the internet. Most importantly, this very specific pain came upon me before I even know what PMR was. I had never heard of it and did not know anyone who suffered with it. Hence, no possibility of my being influenced by anyone's experiences other than my own.

At the beginning, it was very painful to rise from a chair, or tuck in a shirt, or wash my hair - as hip/shoulder girdles were severely impacted. I also had severe carpal tunnel pain/tingling in the right thumb and trigger-finger while sleeping. My PCP was inclined to begin a Prednisone taper (50mg to 10mg) over the course of two weeks. He also did a sed rate and a CRP as well as the other indicated labs. Interesting to note that over the years in spite of excruciating arthritic pain and joint fusing, my sed rates were never particularly high, and I never had a lot of swelling or redness. This time, the sed rate was 58. You will probably not be surprised to hear that all of the PMR pain and symptoms (including carpal tunnel) went away in the first 12 hours of the taper. At the end of the first two weeks I was feeling as good as possible. Also, no indications of GCA.

We then transitioned to my rheumatologist and we began the process of moving from 10 Mg/day to lower dosages. Suspect we taped down to 5 mg a little too quickly and some of the symptoms returned. Right now I am at 8 Mg/day and doing OK but some of the shoulder pain is returning...although not that debilitating so my Rheumatologist and I have agreed to continue for another month. It really is not that painful and just being able to get up and down or pick up something from the floor without wishing for a sky-hook has been uplifting.

Sorry to go on and on with my life story but I guess my question for now is to seek opinions and experiences as to whether to anticipate the other joints/muscles to be re-impacted or if maybe holding at 8 for many months is a better way to go. I'm also struggling to understand whether this pain, although definitely real, is local to the joints/muscles, or is impacting the pain-receptors in the brain.

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