After "recovering" from PMR, still decreased strength/stamina

Have you had your thyroid, iron levels, etc checked? My thyroid conked out in my early 50s and it really messed up my competitive running. It took several years to get the right meds worked out.

My PMR is in remission, I guess, after only one year. However, the condition and the medication aged me about ten years. My skin is very thin and crepey with lots of purple spots and prominent veins and tendons. I move slower and get tired faster. I lost lots of hair, which is now just starting to grow back now that I’m off the meds. I still have to be very careful with my diet or I’ll wake up stiff and aching.

Your hands and arms look exactly like mine. I have the thin transparent skin and bulging veins caused by prednisone too. And it's spooky when we make a fist how we can see the white knuckle bones just below the skin. It's a new body awareness when you can see through the skin to the workings underneath... eeek.

I'm so sorry that Prednisone does this to your skin. I think women are more susceptible to skin thinning. Nurses who start IVs on me say I have "thick skin." That was only true for my arms. I had very thin skin over my shins when I was on Prednisone. I used to start IVs on patients and I can see how fragile your skin and veins look. How are your bones?

I like wearing shorts in the summer but any sun at all on my legs felt like fire when my skin was thin. After I got off Prednisone, the skin on my legs thickened again. Now I have opaque white patches that I can't see through. I think the white patches are mostly scar tissue. I wear shorts again but my legs don't look so good. The white patches never tan like the rest of my legs do.

I am trying creatine to see if it helps with my loss of strength post-PMR/prednisone.

Im so glad to read this! I also feel like i have a very mild case of pMR. I started on a very low dose of prednisone, 4 mg, and that did the trick for me. I’ve only been on it for a few months and I just got tested and all my inflation markers are back to normal. I’ve been gradually reducing and currently I’m at 2 mg. I haven’t had any flares, thankfully! I feel very fortunate and I’m encouraged to read what you wrote because I haven’t come across anyone else that had such a brief encounter with PMR.

Hi
I'm male, 74 years old and had very difficult symptoms for many years without a diagnosis. Recently had a huge increase in some of my symptoms which, through blood tests, suggest PMR. So now on prednisone and not feeling much better with some new symptoms making me feel worse.

I have the same problem with my hands, veins and thin crepy skin. But I have dry, sensitive skin all over anyway. My hands can look like yours in the photo when they've been down by my side for a while which, to me, suggests that gravity is simply moving more blood down into the veins in my hands. Often they can look very swollen. I do have arthritis in my shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands. However, when my arms are elevated or horizontal for a while they look much better, almost youthful again. No redness, veins look normal again and skin looks smoother. The difference between the two is incredible. If I took photos of my hands when they are so different in appearance you wouldn't think they belonged to the same person. I don't think it's from prednisone as they've been like this for quite a few years. Plus, my wife has developed exactly the same thing and she's never taken prednisone. She also has problems with arthritic shoulders, spine and neck issues and, like me, finds it difficult to raise her arms much above her head. Again, with her I can see it's probably a problem with blood circulation and gravity. We're both losing strength and muscle mass on our arms too.

The thin skin I'm beginning to realize is a lack of collagen production as we age which is fairly normal but which is also very much linked to inflammatory and autoimmune diseases affecting not only skin but muscles, tendons and other parts of the body in some cases with some pretty serious problems that can arise from it. I've put some links below. There's a lot more of course online about collagen and collagen deficiency.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/23089-collagen
https://www.careinsurance.com/blog/health-insurance-articles/collagen-deficiency-the-reason-behind-your-skin-lacks-elasticity
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24342-collagen-vascular-disease

I posted a reply to jiffaw about hands being in poor condition. I don't know if it might be of interest to you.
Frank

I’m curious too. I was recently diagnosed w/PMR a few months ago. Now on prednisone 12.5 mgs. & methotrexate just prescribed in addition. I’ve gone back to my walking & gentle stretching class at the Y BUT I’ve noticed my strength is not as it was. 3 mile walk & I’m pooped. I don’t know if it’s because of the meds or 3 months of inactivity. Not sure which yet. So I’d be interested to hear what other folks say.

Some auto-immune and connective tissue inflammation can be related to reduced collagen in the body. The appearance of my hands and skin doesn't change with blood circulation or gravity. I get plenty of natural collagen from a diet rich in animal protein and low in carbs/sugars, so there's not much more can be done about it if it is collagen related. The change in skin thinning was fairly sudden and only started after the PMR and prednisolone did, so I think it is less related to ageing, though there may be a little of that.

I'd warn against the idea that collagen supplements will help. In my case, I'm almost certain that hydrolysed marine collagen powder prompted my initial PMR onset with the PMR suddenly starting 5 days after I started taking it. Hydrolysed collagen is not collagen in its natural form. It is altered collagen which contains a lot of hydroxyproline which converts to oxalates during digestion. Oxalates combine with calcium in the body and can cause problems with kidneys, and calcium oxalate crystals can also deposit in and around joints causing pain. So I stay away from processed collagen supplements and also high oxalate foods.