Posted , 10 users are following.
Hello,
Thanks to all of you for the assistance and reassurance your posts provided to me as I travelled my PMR journey.
Over a five year period, I had three bouts of PMR - on prednisone for a year, off for several months, hit again, back on pred, off again for several months, then hit with the third whammy. I've now been off pred for a full year, have no PMR pain, and my blood tests are normal. Hallelujah!
However, I am left with a few health concerns and don't know if they are related to my PMR or not, and I'm hoping someone from this group may have dealt with similar symptoms and may be able to help me out. I have a very tight chest which makes each breath an effort and gets worse with strenuous activity. This problem started before I finished with prednisone. I'm still hit with with bouts of sudden-onset fatigue, and suffer from hot flashes (not related to menopause - I'm well past that), usually occurring in the wee hours of the morning. I also have frequent drops in blood pressure (eg 83/42) which result in light headedness.
I've been thoroughly checked out by both a respirologist and a cardiologist - lung function and sleep apnea tests, EKG, stress test, echo stress test, and cardiac catheterization. Very minimal things detected but nothing to worry about, and nothing to explain my health problems.
Other than these concerns, I'm slim, fit, eat well, exercise regularly, don't smoke, and drink only a glass or two of wine per week. Can't think of any lifestyle changes I could make to improve my health.
Doctors aren't sure what's causing my problems, and I'm hoping someone from this group may have dealt with similar concerns and found an explanation. I will appreciate any leads you can offer me to regain my health.
1 like, 16 replies
Guest merrymac
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merrymac Guest
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EileenH merrymac
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It is perfectly possible you have another autoimmune disorder that isn't producing PMR symptoms but doing something else. Mind you - if you have such low BP that will do all sorts of strange things!
merrymac EileenH
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lodgerUK_NE merrymac
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Just to see if your adrenal glands are up to speed.
merrymac lodgerUK_NE
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angela43016 merrymac
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merrymac angela43016
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kathy67492 merrymac
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Even have a friend who thought she had PMR because of our similar aches and pains (she was checked out and does not have it). Hard to distinguish. Your post is a good reminder to me that when the PMR leaves me I will still have issues. Hope most of your symptoms are residual pmr!
EileenH kathy67492
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On what grounds was she told she didn't have PMR? There is no definitive trest for PMR - if the aches and pains were so similar she could have it. Having normal blood tests means nothing - about a fifth of patients don't develop raised ESR/CRP.
kathy67492 EileenH
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Thank you Eileen.
merrymac kathy67492
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Whisper2003 merrymac
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merrymac Whisper2003
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julian. merrymac
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I have mild asthma that I attribute a bit of chest pain / stiffness to. Haven't needed seretide since 2007 and ventolin about once a year. I also never smoked, not overweight (just heavier than I liked), lots of "steps" each day, but lost a lot of fitness with the PMR.
For unrelated reason gp suggested coronary calcium count. Which led to stress echo test which led to angiogram. This is my second day after stent for fully blocked artery.
Between stress test and stent I did have a couple of days of really struggling for breath. No matter how deep I tried to breathe it was never enough. Horrible feeling.
The stent seems to have done its job. The seretide and ventolin are helping and I'm breathing normally this morning.
But still got the bit of chest pain and stiffness, to a bit of puzzlement for the doctors.
It never ends though, I feel the beginnings of sore throat and chest infection, which normally knock me about. Just what I needed.
Rehab from stent will be interesting as I try to juggle activity, heart, pmr and pred.
merrymac julian.
Posted
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