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PMR diagnosed but now headache for almost a month.

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Aug 5, 2023 | Replies (18)
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@samara66

Thanks for your reply! About a month ago I started having fleeting stabbing pains in my left temple. They lasted only seconds and I’d have two to three episodes a day. Then about two weeks ago I started having tooth pain while chewing. I was so disconcerted about this I contacted my gp and endodontist. The chewing pain seemed related to one tooth only and the stabbing pains in my temple stopped. Since I am still on 7 tapering to 6mg of prednisone, if it is GCA, maybe that is enough to control it for now. Not really sure how to proceed from here, but the possibility of GCA looms large.

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Replies to "Thanks for your reply! About a month ago I started having fleeting stabbing pains in my..."
emo | @emo | Aug 3, 2023

@tsc mentioned the risk of stroke or blindness…it’s a very serious risk.

My dad had a stroke two weeks after getting prednisone from his PCP and after just one visit with a rheumatologist. We will never know if it was GCA-related. By the time he was recovering from the stroke in the hospital, there were other things to contend with as opposed to the temporal biopsy, and they had him on IV steroids. If ever there were a time to not fear being paranoid, this feels like one of those things…

I think it would be best to mention this to your rheumatologist or treating physician if you haven’t yet and it hasn’t resolved? And make sure to specify GCA if for some reason you feel they may not be aware of it.

GCA requires prednisone too, but at a much higher dose, usually 40 mg. Hopefully it’s not that, but it’s risky enough you may want to be sure.

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