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

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@misery3

Very healthy 71 year old, took no meds, active as a 25 yr. old, had stress test due to age, just routine, used Lexiscan injection, this was on Thursday May 11th, by Tuesday May 16th I could hardly walk, turn my head, pain in every joint. Unreal pain, at the top with pain of shingles, went to my primary care physician, didn’t have a clue but gave me steroids…..bottom line as long as steroids are in my system, I’m o.k. As soon as they are out of my system, can hardly walk. All boxes check with PMR, to see rheumatologist in one week. So my stressor was the lexiscan dilator for a heart stress test which was 100% normal. NEVER HEARD OF PMR but it has my attention now

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Replies to "Very healthy 71 year old, took no meds, active as a 25 yr. old, had stress..."

68 here and I had never heard of it either til I ended up in the ER, barely able to walk and in agony just turning over in bed. Now I've begun tapering off the steroids. The first attempt was too soon and I knew because of pain. This tim it is so far, so good from 15 to 12.5 per day. I'll fo slower this next drop.
Good luck. There is a lot of helpful info here re PMR.

Hello @misery3, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @vellen and others. You will notice that we moved your post to an existing discussion here so that you can read what others have shared and join the conversation with other questions you may have.

--- Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/polymyalgia-rheumatica-pmr-meet-others-share-your-story/.

Like you it gained my full attention when my first bout with PMR came on. My rheumatologist recommended that I keep a daily log with my level of pain in the morning along with my dose of prednisone for the day. This helped when I was struggling to taper off of prednisone. You might also be interested in the following related discussion:
--- PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-dosages/.

Do you mind sharing what dosage of prednisone the doctor started you on and if you have a plan to taper off?

Good Morning Misery3, So glad you found this support group. It is filled with wonderful people who “get it”. Like you, many of us in this group had never heard of PMR, but upon diagnosis have become well versed in auto immune disorders. When talking with friends and family it’s very difficult to get across the intensity of the pain and how debilitating it can be. WE here all understand. It’s is great that you will see a rheumatologist soon. I am two months into my diagnosis and have begun to taper off prednisone (very slowly). While life is normal now (without pain), I seem to be always waiting for the other shoe to drop. Any ache I get and my mind starts racing. Like you I had no other health conditions but that doesn’t matter to PMR. FYI, I have pretty much adopted the Mediterranean Diet sans salt and sugar. No processed food, white flour, simple carbohydrates. I’m not sure if it has helped, but eating healthier can’t be bad.? Please keep us posted on your progress. We are all in your court. Patience and good luck. Liz Ward