Can we make PMR funny ? Can we fight the immune cells involved ?

Question: What did P say to MR?

Answer: You’re no fun, you’re stiff as a board!

You were wise to retire, @sandiw77, I can't imagine working with PMR. When I had it, I was on jury duty. I tried to wash my hands in the courthouse lav and was not able to push the faucet mechanism down to get water. A woman beside me noticed and did it for me. It's odd to be so disabled yet look okay on the outside.
I hope the Kevzara works for you.
Teri

That’s very interesting, I did not know that. Maybe they are missing a lot of diagnosis. I think we should all be thankful that we were diagnosed and got in the right line for treatment. I didn’t have an illness or prior injury but worked in Public Health Emergency Response during the pandemic so my stress was through the roof for the past several years. I ended up retiring right after I was diagnosed because I knew that my stress would still be feeding the inflammation. The treatment has not been the seamless solution that my first few months on prednisone were so I have just added Kevzara to the mix and am praying that I am going to be able to taper with fewer side effects and pain. Such an interesting discussion!
Sandi

Hi@sandiw77, It's often difficult for Caucasians to get a diagnosis of PMR/GCA. My mother-in-law had symptoms of GCA and an internist told her she had a virus and she'd be okay in three months. The same doctor friend that diagnosed my GCA diagnosed hers twenty years earlier.
To answer your question, there may be a startling number of diagnoses that are missed because of race and ethnicity.
Was there an injury or illness that you think triggered your PMR?

Thank you for the well wishes Teri! I wish you vibrant health and healing as well as we traverse this path.

I’m the sole survivor of my nuclear family but none of them experienced anything like this. I didn’t have an illness that preceded the onset, but I had high stress factors for years in various positions I held before I retired. I think my having PMR is just the luck of the draw. Almost everyone who lives to old age has to contend with something, and right now I’m dealing with this. I’m not sure I can control when it goes into remission. I follow all the positive recommendations to the best of my ability and think someday it may switch off as it switched on. I do practice deep breathing, and I relax more, and I sleep well now. I also take Zinc Picolinate and Vitamin C to give my immune system a boost. I’m trying to help my immune system heal.

My rheumatologist actually made my diagnosis but I honestly didn’t believe him despite my symptoms of sudden onset hip & shoulder pain with low grade temperatures and extreme fatigue. I was also anemic and my inflammatory markers were crazy high. I don’t have a positive family history for PMR but my 90+ year old Mom & Sister both have symptoms and are working with rheumatologist now so I will not be surprised with their diagnosis. My rheumatologist told me that he had never treated another African American patient that he had diagnosed with PMR. I wondered at the time how many diagnoses are missed because of race/ethnicity.

In reply to @teddyz

In read that PMR occurred primarily in people from Scandinavian countries, Great Britain and Caucasians. Imagine my surprise being African American. But I didn’t cry ‘ why me’ it proves the mystery of genetics.

@hunib33 and sudden onset , you are > 50 yrs old, pain stiffness worse in the morning ?? Are you keeping a pain journal ? Did the internist also suspect PMR? Did you come across the sites pmrandyou.com ? And pmrandIL6 dot com -- the slide show is super informative . I like this figure the best to think about what is happening in PMR.

Do you have a funny story yet ; )

Hi @hunib33,
You were smart.
I suffered in silence for a year thinking I had fibromyalgia. Then I was so fatigued, lost a lot of weight, and got shingles on my face (despite having the Shingrex vaccine a year prior).
I thought I had Lupus. I confided in an infectious disease doctor friend who went over my bloodwork, found I was anemic, and told me what other tests to request my doctor to take. He was resentful and told me if I had GCA, I'd be blind. Long story short, my inflammation markers were off the charts and biopsy of the temporal artery was positive.
Are you the only person in your family that you know of who's been stricken? My maternal aunt had it, and my mother-in-law as well.
I was taking prednisone about a year and a half and have been off it about nine months, no flareups.
How are you doing now?
Did you have an illness or injury before the onset of symptoms that you think caused your immune system to go into overdrive?
Wishing you the best,
Teri