Settle back, this is going to be a long post.

Just joined after reading numerous posts over the past few years. They were informative and helpful.
Those posts dealing with medical care providers who refused to even consider PMR or claimed they had never heard of it are disappointing in the extreme.
I have noted on several medical sites that seniors in Florida seem to experience an inordinate amount of trouble with their primary care providers. What is with doctors in Fla?

OK, in order that that someone may profit from learning about someone else's PMR experience, here's mine:
I am 84; my BMI is 22.9; BP at last physical was 70/130; A1c is 6; only medication is a 10mg statin; triglyceride/HDL ratio is 0.63; and I have a moderate level of arthritis in my knees, shoulders, and hands.
I workout every day: one day for one hour on a rowing machine; the next dayI do a set of stretches, planks, dead bugs, push-ups, slider exercises that take about one hour.

Every thing was just fine until I had what I thought was a flareup of arthritis in one shoulder so went to see my doctor who suspected it was arthritis and it would probably resolve itself. I was taking Aleve and it provided some help. (I kept a running log so I am going to cut and paste from that log into this post).

13 April - The shoulder pain has not abated. It became bothersome enough for me to see the doctor today who sent me for an X-Ray of the left shoulder. Also, at the same time, I had a flare up of arthritis in my left knee which became noticeably swollen.

The findings of the X-Ray were: There are degenerative and hypertrophic changes involving the joint. Osteophyte projects off the inferior medial left humeral head. No glenohumeral dislocation. No identifiable fracture or calcific loose bodies. No bony erosive lesion. No bony lytic or blastic changes.

25 April Saw doctor again on and he gave me a cortisone shot in the left shoulder which provided only very slight relief. The discomfort is greatest when I push my elbows back to place my hands in my pockets or when pulling on my trousers. Pain in the shoulders continues as does the pain in the left knee. Left knee pain disturbs my sleep and I am unable to exercise: no rowing, no cable exercises, no long walks.

May. Began four weeks of PT . Have twice-weekly appointments and at-home, twice-daily exercises to perform. After two months and of twice-weekly visits + doing prescribed exercises twice daily, I see only moderate, if any, improvement.

20 May - Last few days the knee, while still swollen, has greatly improved. Have continued to ice it, but not as frequently. Shoulders, on the other, show no improvement at all; some days are better than others, but no days are completely pain-free. Had a particularly bad night’s sleep on the night of 20/21 May because of shoulder discomfort.

This is getting too long, so I am going to cut to the chase.
In July, my doc referred me to an orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion and shoulder x-rays. His diagnosis was arthritis.

In Aug., I went back to my doctor and asked for a referral to a rheumatologist. He said first we had to establish what level of inflammation I might have. Drew blood, got the results back: Rheumatoid factor was 11.4; Sedimentation rate was 32; C-Reactive Protein was 15. The first one of these is considered high, the latter two, very high. He called back the next day and said he was almost positive what I had was Polymyalgia Rheumatica and put me on 13mg of Prednisone daily, with instructions to reduce it 1 mg a month and come back in two weeks. Relief was immediate; I got up the next morning and my shoulders were back to normal!
Two weeks later at another appt. he explained that I needed to take Fosamax to counter the bone loss caused by Prednisone.

I have been reducing the dosage as prescribed then in March of 2023, I had pain at the rear of one ankle and a week later the exact same on the other ankle. I was reduced to a shuffling old man in one week!! Doc diagnosed it as bilateral Achilles Tendonitis. Another medical professional suggested that I up the Prednisone dosage back to 10 (I was on 4mg), but 10 days later, no improvement.
A physical therapist noted that one side effect of Prednisone is tendon pain and suggested I drop the dosage back to 4 mg which I did several days ago and now the so-called Achilles Tendonitis is definitely improving.
I guess I am lucky that I have not suffered any of the many side effects I have read about here and on reddit: weight gain, anger, moon face, etc., etc. I have gained 5 pounds, I sleep well, no moon face, etc.
So, that's my story. Hope this may be of use to anyone reading it.
Happy to answer any questions.