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Is it PMR (and/) or Osteoarthritis?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Apr 10 2:54pm | Replies (51)Comment receiving replies
I have been on prednisone for classic pmr for five years. Now on 2mg/day but if i stop joint pain flares up and i am crippled. It is not the same pain as pmr, nor did i have joint pain before pmr. I have a theory which medical science doesn’t agree with, that either the pmr or prednisone can cause previously minimal osteoarthritis (which we will all have to a degree due to our age group) to flare up into a florid monster. My theumatologist suspects seronegative inflammatory arthritis. I suspect unacknowldged link between pmr and rampaging osteoarthritis… three other people in my orchestra had pmr and now experience the same arthritic pain (? Or Possible link between orchestral playing and pmr! n=1 science)
Replies to "I have been on prednisone for classic pmr for five years. Now on 2mg/day but if..."
Hello @muchbetternow, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @dadcue and others. I love the positivity of the member name you chose - we all want to be much better NOW! I think one of the reasons PMR can be difficult to diagnose is due to the spectrum of conditions with similar symptoms.
--- Diseases that mimic polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR): https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/diseases-that-mimic-polymyalgia-rheumatica
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I like your theories and would like to add some additional ones of my own.
I was diagnosed with seronegative inflammatory arthritis approximately 20 years before PMR was diagnosed. PMR and inflammatory arthritis can coexist. The two entities cause inflammation in structures that are in close proximity to each other.
Synovitis is one of the hallmarks of both PMR and inflammatory arthritis.
https://creakyjoints.org/education/what-is-synovitis/#:~:text=In%20RA%2C%20your%20immune%20system,Synovitis%20equals%20active%20inflammatory%20arthritis.%E2%80%9D
I would guess that PMR exacerbates arthritis.
The link between prednisone and arthritis is clear. Prednisone is known to have musculoskeletal adverse effects.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1429389/
and
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12025801/
I would guess that prednisone exacerbates arthritis too.
Lastly, I would guess that the damage caused by inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis all begins to look the same as we age. The wear and tear arthritis blends into the inflammatory arthritis so that it becomes hard to tell what causes what.
I don't think inflammation is confined to any particular area of the body simply because we happen to be diagnosed with PMR. I think of inflammation as being able to attack any part of the body that it chooses to attack.
After years of elevated inflammation markers and a myriad of problems, my rheumatologist stopped saying that I had any specific diagnosis. She said I was on prednisone to help regulate "systemic inflammation."
All I know is that I'm "muchbetternow" since getting off prednisone