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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Nov 18 7:12pm | Replies (1907)
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@ripley

How did they diagnose your GCA and what were your symptoms of that? Do you only take Actemra and not high dose prednisone? How long will you be on Actemra? Thanks.

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Replies to "How did they diagnose your GCA and what were your symptoms of that? Do you only..."
minijohn | @minijohn | May 30, 2022

About a month after coming off of my prednisone taper for PMR, I started to have some jaw discomfort and occasional mild headaches. I did a bit of research and discovered those could be symptoms of GCA. I quickly requested an appointment with a rheumatologist and he immediately scheduled me for a temporal biopsy. The biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of GCA. I then started another 10 month prednisone taper (beginning at 60mg daily) and had my first Actemra infusion. I have had 12 infusions and will continue those for at least another year before reassessing.

Regarding diagnosing GCA, read page 4 of this document:
https://www.vasculitisfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-ACR-VF-Guideline-for-Management-of-Giant-Cell-Arteritis-and-Takayasu-Artheritis.pdf

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