How did your PMR begin?

I moved to a new location and home. Very stressful

Mine started after having hosted back to back houseguests . After all was quiet ,I felt very tired and began having bilateral shoulder and arm pain with weakness. I figured I was just exhausted.The pain ended up skyrocketing so my PCP sent me to ER. MRI was negative but the labs were abnormal. Sed rate 73, CRP 31. The ER physician diagnosed PMR and started prednisone.
I’m seeing the rheumatologist on 5/1.

Almost 7 years ago I was dealing with a heavy, stressful workload but was handling it okay. Then came an flood of extremely stressful months related to actions by our alcoholic son. I had some occasional dealings in July of that year with extreme pain in the hips, thighs and biceps but it would go away after a few hours, so I didn't do anything about it. Then one morning in September I woke up and found I could barely roll out of bed for work and getting dressed took a long, painful time. Finally, after still working in the extreme pain for 2 months and many doctor appointments, a LPN mentioned that she thought it could be PMR and gave me a prednisone prescription for a week. And, as they say, the rest is history. Hasn't necessarily been a smooth journey but it has been lots better than how it started!

Hi there, I agree with you my Temporal Large Cell Arteritis started after I passed out and fell face first like you. Prior to the fall I had excellent health. Do you know of any documentation of the effect of blunt head trauma and LCA??
How has your health been compromised by all these drugs?

We relocated over a year ago too, after I retired. It was a lot of stress, but it wasn’t until now that PMR showed up. So baffling to me !

I believe I researched concussions and immune system. Whatever it was, it said that a major fall would impact the immune system. PMR is directly related to the immune system so I put it together. My rheumatologist did not agree with me, but he didn’t think I was having a recurrence of GCA when I was having a relapse. As for the medications, I have had different impact from different meds. The major one is the prednisone which brings a whole bag of issues. The brain fog upsets me because I don’t think as fast and as clearly as I did. It makes me tired and weak. Every day is a new day!

I can't recall any events or emotions that brought about my PMR. I was walking across a parking lot when suddenly my shoulders, arms, and upper thighs got very stiff. That lasted for two more days, then disappeared...and five days later the arms and shoulder hurt, and right away my doctor said, "Polymyalgia," which a high CRP and my positive reaction to prednisone confirmed. Right now I am trying to see if low-dose naltrexone can replace prednsone. So far, it hasn't.

Yes, I am a dietitian and do believe that diet plays a role in PMR symptoms. I eat a whole foods organic diet and my PMR only bothered me in bed. As soon as I would get up, it went away! I took a low dose of prednisone for about 1.5 years and then got off of it, only to get it again when I caught COVID. Note that I first experienced symptoms after my second Pfizer vaccination.

I am also very curious about the questions you posed.

Very good guestions you raise. I believe it's spike is due to vaccines, covid included. My reaction was exactly the same. I've never "heard if this, what is it and how did i get this? "