Can diet affect PMR

Hello jjO

How disappointing for you to get over PMR in such a short time, only for the pain to return again so soon.

ESR and CRP blood tests may confirm whether the pain is, in fact, caused by a recurrence of PMR.

However, another possibility could be a deficiency in Vitamin D which can lead to muscle and joint pain among other things. A simple Vit D blood test would be wise if you haven't already had one. I was recently found to be deficient and am at present on a 3-month course of high dose Vit D supplements.

Following my diagnosis of PMR and GCA, I tried to include in my diet as many known anti-inflammatory foods as possible, such as oily fish (sardines, mackerel, salmon, trout), beetroot, avocado, garlic and turmeric. I also avoided certain foods known to stress the adrenal glands such as coffee and sugar.

I do hope that helps.

Hello jjO - welcome!

To be off pred altogether in a year is very unusual in PMR. The research shows that about a quarter of patients will manage to get off pred in under 2 years but that they are also more likely to experience a relapse later than other patients who were on pred for longer the first time round.

MrsO has mentioned a load of anti-inflammatory foods as well as mentioning another cause of similar symptoms, vit D deficiency. That is something that a supplement will help as there is little vit D in most food, certainly not enough to supply all our needs, and living in northern climes with a summer like last year doesn't supply much from exposure to the sun!

Like her, I would recommend you get your blood test checked again (providing they showed anything the first time, my blood tests have NEVER been abnormal!). It is possible to have this pesky disease more than once and your appear to be in a group that is more likely to do so.

Eileen

i do hope this is not pmr returning go to your dr and get some blood tests done including your vit d ,then get bcak to us carolk

Thank you so much for your replies to my query. I wasn't going to come off the pred so quickly but I had a Pulmonary Embolism and was very ill for a while and the consultant didn't think the preds were doing me much good and suggested to my doctor that I should come off them fairly quickly and hope for the best!!! I shall be going for a blood test next week and as I do not eat ANY oily fish I will start taking Vitamin D supplement.

Something that might interest you is the fact that my mother had GCA and lost her sight through it, one of my brothers also has GCA and his twin has PMR and has been on prednisalone on and off for almost 9 years now.

There is believed to be a genetic component in the predisposition to autoimmune disease and quite a few people can identify relatives who had PMR in the past when it was only recognised as "rheumatics". So I don't find that family history surprising.

I don't want to be doomladen - but untreated PMR is more likely to progress to GCA than treated, and 1 in 6 patients with PMR who take pred do develop GCA at some point. If you are not taking pred for other reasons then you need to have a close eye kept on you.

Have you told us where you live? Whilst I have every sympathy with the PE consultant suspecting pred to be a baddy it is all too easy to blame pred for a lot of things - and post PE leaves you feeling pretty mouldy too! There is a lady on the other forum who has had multiple PEs in the past and is on pred - there is, after all, no alternative if you have GCA - and I can't remember her doctors wanting her off pred. Be that as it may - the group in Southend have done a small pilot study with another drug used in rheumatoid arthritis for PMR patients which seems to indicate promising results for patients who can't for some reason take pred. If this is PMR raising its head again it might be worth asking for referral to them if you are within reasonable travelling distance or your doctors could contact the rheumatology department at Southend for advice. Unfortunately, hoping for the best is not a recognised way of treating PMR

Eileen