PMR, no drugs?

I have had extremely painful overnight onset hip and shoulder PMR for one and a half years since the beginning of 2024. I have not taken any serious drugs. Just an occasional anti-inflammatory Mobic. After nine months, I was able to exercise myself out of the shoulder pain. Only half of my hip joint pain remains. I cannot find any literature about taking the awful pain instead of the drugs. Has anybody done this?

Untreated systemic inflammation affects other systems not just joints.
If your sed rate or CRP results are high it is best to try steroids.
Diet is also part of the treatment. Have you seen a rheumatologist?

Thanks for your reply. I see a rheumatologist every month or two for the past 15 months. It took three months before they finally let me see a rheumatologist. I’m seronegative and have had about 150 tests in total for all the markers. All looks normal. I have a strict anti-inflammatory and anti-immune system stimulating diet. No alcohol or any other drugs.

My hip joints may be ok between 2-3 years after the initial sudden onset. Halfway there now, with ups and downs along the way. It’s been VERY painful so I would not recommend refusing drugs for everyone.

No signs of GCA etc.

Also, my arms started out so bad that I could not even put on a shirt without it being pure torture. Now, after a lot of workouts, I can do push-ups and throw a baseball.

I am one that doesnt like to take drugs. It took 3 months to diagnose PMR. I was in so much pain just trying to manage day to day was brutal. I was taking 2 or 3 tylenol every day and finally self diagnosed myself. I had access to prednisone. I took 20mg and it was like nothing had been wrong in 4 hours. I knew the issues with steroids but I had my life back. I was determined to not stay on the drug. I was off in 6 months. PMR had burned itself out. So it might be possible to burn it out without steroids but I am not the right guy for it.

My 1st rheummy, I was with for 4 years with symptoms of PMR and weird labs and no diagnosis. Found another rheummy who diagnosed PMR right a way and put me on steroids which did the trick. Finished that treatment with only one flair and then found another closer to me who looked for other autoimmune diseases. She found Sjogren's. Thought PMR was self limiting. I think most of us would disagree. Since I had pain the whole time I was undiagnosed, I can't reccogmend going without treatment.

Wow that’s unbelievable, it’s hard to believe it was PMR. I never heard of anyone getting over it in 6 months. Your sed rate and CRP are normal?

I had PMR for a year before I got diagnosed. I thought it was due to other problems, such as getting older. About 7 months after the PMR started, I got additional symptoms of GCA, such as pain in my face, night sweats, tenderness around my ears, etc. Eventually I had to go to the emergency room for episodes of temporary vision loss. Fortunately they saved my vision with infusions of high dose methylprednisolone. The risk of not being treated for PMR is developing GCA. Google says 10-20 percent of people with PMR will develop GCA. But even people being treated for PMR can still develop GCA.

My quality of life was much, much better after I started treatment for PMR and GCA than before. I was treated with prednisone and Actemra. I tried treating myself with time released acetaminophen, but it really didn't help much.

I am on both as well. Works very well!

Has anyone used DMSO for GCA? If so, how did you use it?