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Medications for Temporal Arteritis/Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jul 7 8:52am | Replies (353)
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@becsbuddy

@ripley I found this information on fibromyalgia by Mayo Clinic. It explains symptoms,causes, treatments, etc.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/fibromyalgia/symptoms-causes/syc-20354780
As far as GCA, oral prednisone tablets are the best way to start. But, if your doctors think it could be muscle stress, then a muscle relaxant is good.
Did you ever get the results of the artery biopsies? What did they show?

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Replies to "@ripley I found this information on fibromyalgia by Mayo Clinic. It explains symptoms,causes, treatments, etc. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/fibromyalgia/symptoms-causes/syc-20354780..."
ripley | @ripley | May 23, 2022

Thanks for your comments. My artery biopsy was in 2019 and was negative, as was a temporal ultrasound. The headaches could be from the muscle tightness in my neck and shoulders. But I also have body aches and maybe that is fibromyalgia.

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marilynredder2367 | @marilynredder2367 | May 24, 2022

50% of artery biopsies are negative. There are other ways of diagnosing GCA before you go blind. My ESR and scalp pain was enough to be given 40 mg of prednisone. It did the job and still doing the job many years later. But now we also have Actemra to help.

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