Hi. I'll defer to the support leaders and others for verification/opinions, but my sense is that most rheumatologists are well aware that about 20% of all PMR patients test within normal ranges for Sed Rate and CRP; especially after being put on a taper of prednisone. One thing that I have learned over the past three years is that for many sufferers there is no direct relationship between Sed Rate test and pain. I suspect that many doctors want to correlate them so as to rationalize their diagnoses and treatments - but they will be in serious trouble if they try to posit that my pain over the past 2 years has been more in the head than the shoulder gridles.

Like so many members, I was hit like a lightning bold of hip and shoulder pain (throw in some carpel tunnel symptom's) around May of 2019. My primary care doc did the blood work which revealed a sed rate in the 60's - which is not astronomically high and put me on a prednisone taper before the blood test came back. He correctly predicted that even the carpel tunnel would go away. As with so many of us, I felt much better in the first 8 hours and great the next day. Before that I could not get up from a chair without a hand-hold and could not take off a tee shirt.

But the take-away is that I have had dozens of monthly sed rate and CRP tests since then and every one of them came within range. Currently at 2 mil. per day, I have some manageable shoulder pain but am determined to get to zero. As we say so often, this is my story and does not go for anyone else, but I'll bet it will engender some resonance (or disagreement). Either way, good to air it out.

Stay well and best of luck.

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