I keep reading about how PMR is an age related disease and is rare in under 50s, so how old are we all? I'm 51 and just squeak into the over 50s category. We keep being told how 50 "isn't old these days". So why do I feel like 90?!
I am 71...was diagnosed at 70 1/2.I just found the rest of the pages of this forum (doh!) and see this has been done a couple of times before! I am amazed at how many of us are in the 50s. Gma, I hope you don't have this horrible thing for too much longer.
Thank you, Chico....I have my fingers crossed...so far so goodChico,
I was diagnosed this morning after a year of pain and thinking it was my
several protruding discs... I am 51.5
I am 69, and was diagnosed 1 1/2 yr. ago.
But suffered for 4 years before any dr. could figure it out.
Georgiana
I was 62 plus 28 days-started on 20mg-10 months later 6mg-sed rate of 6-and yes 30 pounds of predisone--I really dislike all of you who have not gained weight on this-feeling good - also taking a nsaid to help me off of the predisone.
Lonna
pgr555, Me too, 51 1/2yrs, just diagnosed (not confirmed by the rheumatologist yet), and am sure I have had this for quite some time, at least a year.I am 58 and was just diagnosed lat month. My Doctor actually diagnosed it on the phone before he saw me! Smart man!!!
Joy
I was 62 years and 8 months old when PMR startedn last August. I have had it for a year. I was on Prednisone and Methotrexate for about five months.
Does it really go away? I've heard more people say they have had it for years rather than the 18 months. Mary
pgr555,Hi Mary!
You asked if the PMR will go away. I was diagnosed in June 2005 at the age of 68 and am now down on 3.5 mg. I talked to a researcher on PMR two weeks ago, and he told me that he thought it would soon go away for me. I taper by 0.5 mg at a time (every 4 weeks or so) since I was on 5. For a year I had to go back up to 5. I must have tapered too quickly.
Ragnar
RD....I had to go off of Prednisone because of glaucoma and off of Methotrexate because of liver. I was all right for about a month, then I suppose the Methotrexate finally left my system completely.
I was feeling pretty good at 0.3 mg of Prednisone. When I went below, my knees started to hurt again.
A few years ago, in my mid 50's my feet hurt on the bottom for 4 years. I am hypothyroid and a forum I visit about it, said to take Selenium for a month,so I did and like a miracle, my feet quit hurting. I keep looking for something like that for PMR. My Rheumy said it was PMR too. But a lot of people who are hypothyroid are helped with Selenium. It used to be when I ran out and didn't take it for a week, my shoulders would start to pull. Now with PMR though my arms hurt above my elbow. Almost feels like tendinitis. My knees hurt on the inside and my hips hurt.
I have tried ginger, MSM, vitamin E capsules, magnesium, calcium. Seems like there just has to be something. I think if I could have stayed even on a small amount of Prednisone my pain would have stayed away. I'm hoping your doctor is right and your PMR will go away very soon. Mary
I'm 48 - my rheumatologist said I'm one of the weird onesHi All:
I am so glad I discovered this message board. I am 68 years old. Last November 2006, I fell on the ice while curling and suffered a trimalleolar fracture to my right ankle. I was rushed to emerg and underwent surgery the following day. I have a plate 8 screws on the outside and two pins in a Y shape on the inside. While I was in the hospital my right shoulder was giving me a great deal of pain, but I was on so much morphine, etc it was bearable. The pain in my arm was giving me more problem than my ankle recovery. My doctor and I both agreed that I probably hurt my shoulder when I fell, he did give me one cortisone shot which took care of my shoulder pain, but my right arm was so painful I had trouble sleeping. After eight months of painful days and nights the pain, by this time had gone to my left arm, I was in terrible agony. When I told my doctor this he immediately said he thought I had PMR, ordered immediate blood tests and put me on 50mg Prednizone for one week to see if it would help. It did, the pain was no longer. He then put me on reduction, two weeks of 25mg now I am on two weeks of 20mg. Unfortunately, since being on the 20mg I do feel the pain again, but nothing like it was. After reading all I can about Prednizone, I really want to come off it, but don't want the pain either. Sorry that my story is so long, this is my first time and I promise I will make the future notes short. I am suffering from hunger, hunger pains, I believe from taking Prednizone. Does anyone have any diet ideas? Will drinking a lot of water help? What about lots of fruit and veggies? I am only 5 foot 2 inches tall and can't afford to be 160 lbs. Help please.
Thank you, Reni and Betsy for your kind replies. It is so good to have people who are going through the same problems and understand. I hope as time goes on I can be of help to others through this forum. I am really going to try to watch my diet, but sometimes in the evening it is really hard not go 'graze' all evening. Another goal is to get on the lowest possible dosage of the Prednizone and have 'tolerable pain'. I will be seeing my doctor in two weeks and we will have this discussion. As far as my SED rate, he didn't tell me. After the week of 50mg, I think he just wanted to see if the Prednizone would control the pain, even before the blood test results and then level me off.
Hi Chico and all,
My fun times started in February of this year and I got on prednisone six weeks later, which I guess is pretty good for diagnosing. My family practice Dr. suspected PMR but the blood test didn't confirm until I got more tests at the rheumatologist.
I will be 75 in a few days, and I'm hoping I will be one of those lucky people who supposedly have remission in a matter of months or so. My twin sister has had PMR for 2 or three years, so maybe there's some genetic predispositon. She's still on prednisone, and varies from 2mg up to 5 or more.
If you haven't guessed already, my twin sister will also be 75 in a few days! We come from the days when babies were more often born at home. When asked why, I tell them we wanted to be close to our mother.
lol -really? You and your Twin have the same birthday? How unusual! AndHi all,
I saw my Rheumy today and asked her what the ages were of her PMR patients. She said they were ALL in their 60's-70's with the exception of me.
I told her about this group and she said older folks don't complain as much and they expect to have pain from aging. She said sadly pain is a relative thing and age plays a big part in people's expectations and how they manage it.
Anyway I thought I'd pass this along. She wouldn't say how many PMR patients she has but they are numerous.
Take care all....Kathy
Thanks for that input from your doc, Kathy. My doc last week & I talked