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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Jan 27 8:38am | Replies (1879)Comment receiving replies
I have reactive arthritis so it is part of the same family. We might share the same gene HLA-B27 which doesn't confirm anything but makes you more susceptible to spondyloarthritis.
Apparently having one autoimmune disorder doesn't preclude you from having others. It would be nice if there was a law against having more than one autoimmune disorder. It would make things simpler in general.
I have reactive arthritis, uveitis, PMR and a full range of rheumatology problems as my rheumatologist now says.
What type of spondyloarthritis do you have?https://rheumatology.org/patients/spondyloarthritis
This condition is frequently misdiagnosed as PMR and vice versa.
Oral corticosteroids are not recommended for spondyloarthritis. When you have PMR along with it there isn't much that can be done except for high doses of prednisone for a long period of time. That in turn causes a plethora of other medical problems.
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Yikes, I didn't even think about the possibility of having multiple TYPES of autoimmune arthritis! I have other co-occurring conditions that may or may not be autoimmune in nature, but "only" spondyloarthropathy for an inflammatory arthritis.
My rheumatologist said I'm one of the "fun" ones who's negative for the HLA-B27 gene, negative for inflammatory markers, and no visible sign [yet] of inflammation in my joints on imaging. Apparently, just like with the HLA-B27 gene, it's also possible to have spondyloarthropathy without "objective" evidence on labs or imaging. It can sometimes take months or years for inflammation that would prove it to show up on MRI or ultrasound, so some people remain in pain for a long time if they're not able to find someone who can diagnose it or feels comfortable starting empiric (trial and error) treatment. So thank goodness I found a rheumatologist who was aware of this and was able to make a case for insurance to cover the medication.
My diagnosis was made on the basis of my symptoms, family history (family history of RA, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis), and empiric treatment with first sulfasalazine (which did nothing), and then Enbrel. My pain was so bad with tendon pain in both heels, both patellar tendons, one quadriceps tendon, both IT bands, my thumb (de quervains tendinitis), and shoulder that we decided to move forward with empiric treatment.
The Enbrel finally made a dent in my tendon pain, though I ultimately switched to Humira.
I don't meet enough criteria to fall into the more specific subtypes--in my chart because of the medical coding, it's listed as "seronegative spondyloarthropathy" because of the above. So it would be considered "undifferentiated spondyloarthropathy" or "peripheral spondyloarthropathy," (because it doesn't appear to impact my spine, but I already had a spinal fusion for scoliosis when I was a kid) depending on which set of subtypes.
I'm glad you got some answers and hopefully got connected with a supportive rheumatologist. I'm so grateful for mine.