PMR progressing to GCA? Broken vessels in eye

Hi@floridabonnie, I had PMR, not diagnosed for a year (partly my fault), with consistent and unremitting pain on a scale of 10 out of 10. Then it eased up, but I got new symptoms - the only consistent one was a neck and lower head so stiff and sore I couldn't turn my head. The other symptoms were sporadic and lasted a couple of weeks: scalp tenderness, short little stabbing pains from my ear to my nose, starting a few times a day, then up to 25 a day, inability to see out of my right eye for about 15 minutes a few times, a dry cough in the evenings, extreme fatigue, a very itchy torso with no rash for two weeks, and loss of appetite. I also got shingles despite having the Shingrex vaccine. Unfortunately, with sporadic symptoms that came and went, I kept wishing them away. Luckily a friend, physician, got interested, listened to my symptoms and told me to pressure my PCP for a number of blood tests. My inflammation markers were through the roof and with a low dose of Prednisone, 15 mg, my symptoms didn't completely go away. I had the temporal artery biopsy and was positive for GCA, put on 40 mg of Prednisone and just ended treatment, about a year and a half later. GCA is nothing to mess with - untreated it can cause stroke or blindness. My doctor friend told me to go to an ER immediately if I had any problems with vision. About 30% of people with PMR develop GCA. It's probably best to let your doctor know about your new symptoms. If you do have GCA your immune system will continue to attack your blood vessels and arteries. By the way, my mother in law had GCA and her symptoms were different from mine, so much so, that it never crossed my mind I had GCA. The temporal artery biopsy wasn't a difficult procedure. Wishing you the best, Teri