Fibromyalgia or polymyalgia??

What I've read, steroids will settle down the inflammation from PMR but won't touch the pain from fibromyalgia. I'm sure someone here will explain it better. I'm not sure if the inflammation markers even show up in fibromyalgia. Good luck

If they give you 15 to 20 mg of Prednisone and you get relief from the pain within a few hours to within a week then it is apparent that you have PMR because prednisone is not going to help Fibromyalgia. That is the best test for PMR. You can test for inflammation markers but even with PMR those inflammation markers are not always hi when someone has PMR. What they look for is the ESR or also called the SED rate and the CRP also called the C-reactive protein. These are both inflammation markers. If both of these are elevated and you have pain then you are assumed to have PMR.

If you have a raised ESR and/or CRP then it is unlikely to be fibromyalgia because whatever it is, it is not an inflammatory disorder. 80% of patients with PMR have raised ESR/CRP levels. But the biggest difference between fibromyalgia and polymyalgia rheumatica is that PMR responds dramatically to a moderate dose of pred, for most people 15-20mg is enough but if you are large up to 25mg may be needed. As has been said, the response may already be apparent in a few hours (it took under 6 hours for me) but within a few days to a week there should be a 70% improvement in symptoms. You may never be totally pain free - but you should be a LOT better. The symptoms will return in a similar time frame if you stop taking the pred. 

 

My PMR was first diagnosed as arthritis of the spine. ( This was a big surprise to me as my back was one of my more comfortable bits ) My clincher symptom was unusual weight loss and 4 hour response to 30 mgs of Prednisolone.

Heather I have both Pmr and fibromyalgia It's really hard to tell the difference but as Eileen says the prednisone is the key to detection

I have both PMR and Fibro but I find they are two completely different beasts.  Painkillers won't touch PMR but some do help the Fibro.  And, as has been said, only PMR will respond to steroids.

There is currently no test of any kind to diagnose either condition (although I have read recently that they may be on the way to finding a blood test to diagnose Fibro).

Have you read the leaflet for the Ramapril?  There should be a list of side-effects, and if joint pain or muscular pain is mentioned, then perhaps you should speak to your GP and ask if you can try another one.