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Cardiac problems and PMR. Are they connected?

Posted , 14 users are following.

Nancy_O
Nancy_O

Hi there,

I was diagnosed with PMR four years ago and have had some flare ups along the way. about year 2 I started having angina and increased blood pressure. Did poorly on a stress test and was given metropolol and nitro spray. Nothing showed up on dye test, but Doctors insist I have cardivascular disease. I am suspicious that its really PMR affecting my heart, but they don't agree. I have recently tapered off prednisone after the DSNS method and feel good. No angima for a year, blood pressure low. I want to get off the heart meds, but doctors don't agree. is there any current research showing a connection between PMR and cardiac problems?

0 likes, 15 replies

15 Replies

  • EileenH
    EileenH Nancy_O

    Posted

    I don't think so - I did ask Prof Mackie when I (and several others) developed atrial fibrillation and she denied any link. However, my arrythmia specialist here is adamant it was caused by the autoimmune aspect of PMR. That fits, the first signs of it were about the time the PMR started. But rheumies are not very up in cardiology!!!

    There is definitely a higher risk of CV disease in RA patients - but how that works I'm not sure. Exactly what sort of CVD is it?

  • Elijo
    Elijo Nancy_O

    Posted

    Hi Nancy, I was wondering the same thing. I had PMR for 2 1/2 yrs. and have not had it for about 1 yr. I have developed A-fib, which I don't recall every having before. I've been in the emergency room overnight, and recently they wanted to put in a Watchman device to prevent blood clots and subsequently a stroke. They couldn't get it in and had serious trouble, calling in another specialist while I was under anesthesia and they put in an atroclip, same purpose as watchman device, and a chest tube for fluid. I received a pacemaker 2 days later I didn't do too well after this & was was sent to ICU for several days. I'm doing well now, no more a-fib so far, blood pressure good, on the meds I'm taking. I'm lucky to be here. I never had any cardiac problems before except an irregular pulse sometimes. Yes, I do wonder if PMR had some effect on causing the problems. Mine is basically an electrical problem. It can seem so completed. Doctors do not have all of the answers!

  • marion93587
    marion93587 Nancy_O

    Posted

    Well that explains that then , just been diagnosed with A FIB and been a pmr patient for 2 years now . Down to one milligram at present . wondered where the A FIB came from , waiting for cryo ablation .

    • EileenH
      EileenH marion93587

      Posted

      They don't do the ablation here unless they can't avoid it. Mainly because it doesn't last long and the patients come back so they like to avoid the risks as long as possible. Now they can medicate more for the a/f without slowing the heart rate to a risky level - so far I feel a lot better than before!

    • Nancy_O
      Nancy_O EileenH

      Posted

      Thanks for your comments. I had crazy chest pain, fluttering and palpitations around year 2. I seem to be doing well on beta blockers and blood pressure meds. I saw my cardiologist last week. He said the prednisone can cause heart problems, not PMR. He told me he has never known anyone with pmr to get off prednisone and suggested I stay on a low dose rather than have a flare up and have to go nack to higher doses. My ESR has jumped from 22 to 35 since stopping pred. Should I restart at 3 or 4?

    • EileenH
      EileenH Nancy_O

      Posted

      Tad uninformed then!!!! There are loads of people who get off pred - and his medical colleagues in rheumatology at the Mayo have shown that:

      https://www.medpagetoday.org/rheumatology/generalrheumatology/66912?vpass=1

      I'll grant him that some 40% are still on pred at 10 years but at a low dose usually and it is difficult to say if they are on pred for PMR still or whether their adrenal function hasn't returned. And I personally know a lot who were able to stop pred.

      I totally dispute the statement that PMR doesn't cause heart problems - my heart problems were there in the first 5 years of PMR at a time when I had never taken pred in my life. My cardiologists agree that the vasculitis associated with my PMR plays a significant role as higher doses of pred did manage the bradycardias for over a year.

      However - I heartily agree that staying at a low dose indefinitely may not be a bad idea if you repeatedly fail to get off altogether. In your case you could try 3 or 4mg but you may need say 5mg initially to clear out the inflammation but then be able to go as low as 1mg successfully. If I ever get to 1mg I will not stop!!!!!

    • ptolemy
      ptolemy Nancy_O

      Posted

      The reason he has not come across anyone with PMR who has got off pred may be because he has not come across many people with PMR in the first place. I had a junior GP who gave the impression she had loads of patients with PMR, I then discovered I was the only one!!

    • Michdonn
      Michdonn ptolemy

      Posted

      Up until recently I was the only person in my town with PMR nobody even knew what was except my doctors. My massage therapist told a lady he knew had just been diagnosed with PMR. We talked and I provided her with some and this web site.

      🙂

    • ptolemy
      ptolemy Michdonn

      Posted

      A friend mentioned someone in my village who has just got PMR. I contacted her and she seemed so pleased as she had never heard of it and did not know anyone with it.

    • Michdonn
      Michdonn ptolemy

      Posted

      Ptolemy, I had never of it my PCP said that she thought I had PMR and to start on 20 mg of Prednisone. My wife and I were in the middle of rehabbing our house and I could hardly move. Believe I could not understand what was happening to me. My hardest problem is not over doing it. But I still enjoying life with the help of Pred. 🙂

    • Michdonn
      Michdonn ptolemy

      Posted

      Yes Ptolemy, they have been for me.🙂

    • EileenH
      EileenH ptolemy

      Posted

      Hear, hear!!!!

      Life without doesn't bear thinking about.

  • Teddydog
    Teddydog Nancy_O

    Posted

    I was diagnosed at the beginning of this year with cardiac 3vessel artery disease

    I had one stent in may and due another in October

    Four weeks after the first stent i started getting headaches and dizziness in my left temple which was constant and was getting continually worse.my doctor referred me immediately to the rheumatologist who put me in 60 steroids and tokd me i had GNA

    Im really concerned about having another stent and and would like to know if it could have caused GNA?

    My cardialogist and Rhuemotogolist havent spoken

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