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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Sep 10 12:05pm | Replies (1906)Comment receiving replies
New to this site….four months of pain in the the buttocks area and right arm in the morning. Thought it was because my chiro moved out of state. Tried new chiropractors, PT. Acupuncture. And still had trouble the mornings the worst. Spoke to a friend who suggested PMR and on March 3rd began with 10 mg of prednisone from the rhumatologist. Pain went way and so did my hair!! Now we are in July, Tried to taper off but left arm is difficult to raise and hard for steering the car. Went back to doctor and now on 7.5 in the am and 7.5 in the pm. Arm still bad and think it might be injured (rotator cuff)?? Guess we all think it is other than the PMR. Now this morning my left groin area is painful and difficult to walk the dog, of course, working through it. This new discomfort is annoying. My hair looks like I have had chemo. Too sad. Never heard of thi PMR. Read articles loosely associating it with the vaccine (CVID). Thoughts?? Nancy
Replies to "New to this site….four months of pain in the the buttocks area and right arm in..."
Hi there- So sorry to hear about your pain, and the hair loss. I'm not a doctor of course, but could you talk to your rheumatologist again about your symptoms and if they feel certain it's PMR?
It sounds like you all may be considering other diagnoses now. As @johnbishop mentioned, there are several other conditions that can mimic PMR. And just to make things more confusing, you could of course have PMR and also have other conditions, such as a rotator cuff issue, etc.
If it is PMR, it's possible you may not have been on either a high enough dose of prednisone to start, or perhaps you weren't on it long enough? My father is the one with PMR (I am his caregiver, along with my mom), and he started with 20 mg and had significant (though not complete) relief. He ultimately had to go up to 30 mg for some time until his symptoms were nearly completely resolved, and only then did he start tapering very slowly. If he had a flare, then he had to slightly increase his dose until things were stable again, before continuing the taper.
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Hello @gerryandnancydupont, Welcome to Connect. What you are describing doesn't sound like the typical onset of PMR. I've had 2 occurrences both were treated with 20 mg prednisone to start which got rid of all of the pain within hours of taking the first dose. Then it was a struggle to begin the tapering process to get off of prednisone once the PMR pain was under control. I think I would start keeping a daily log of the pain level and locations along with any other symptoms so that you can discuss them when you see your doctor or rheumatologist.
There are quite a few conditions that have similar symptoms to PMR. Here's some information on the topic.
--- Diseases that mimic polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR): https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/diseases-that-mimic-polymyalgia-rheumatica.
The starting dose for most people for PMR is 12.5 to 25 mg or higher. I think based on weight. 10 mg sounds like it's a little low for PMR but then I'm not a doctor. Here is some information you might find helpful.
--- GCA & PMR - Treat-to-target recommendations in giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: https://ard.bmj.com/content/early/2023/02/23/ard-2022-223429
You might want to have a discussion with your rheumatologist again. Mine told me I have to listen to my body when I start to taper off of prednisone and to do it slowly. Are you able to have a discussion with your rheumatologist or doctor about your symptoms after the treatment was started?