Just be diagnosed with PMR

I've also got osteoarthritis and am waiting for hip and knee replacements - hip first. 

I entirely agree that painkillers don't touch the sides of the PMR pain and sadly I have never found anything other than steroids to relieve it.  However, for various reasons (not all PMR) I have now been taking steroids for almost 14 years and I haven't crumbled yet.  Not only that, I have a fairly good quality of life which is limited by the osteoarthritis, not the steroids.

The scare stories about any medications are always the ones which hit the headlines, but if you read any leaflet in any drug pack - even OTC ones - the list of side effects is always worrying.  Paracetamol is not without it's side effects and is often far from the innocent medication they claim it to be, or ibruprofen or even aspirin.

However, no-one is going to get all the side effects listed and some don't get any - as with any other drug in the world.  Neither PMR or steroid taking is one-size-fits-all, on the contrary it will be as individual as you are. 

Have a look at the pinned threads at the top of this forum page.  There are other sites to visit and learn from and there are a couple more forums where you will get support whatever you decide to do.

 

Mandy,

Unfortunately, only steroids take the awful pain away.  I tried alternative resources, but they have not helped.  I do take calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, also vitamin C daily to offset the problems wich Prednisone will cause on a body and joints.  Magnesium Citrate (capsules) helps for sleep and relaxes body and muscles.

You are VERY young to have to endure this!  I am 74 years old, and my PMR did not start until just recently.  I had ----and still have to deal with RA----which is not quite so debiliating than PMR!!!!!  I hate it.

I hope your GP can guide you through this!

All the best,

Erika

I was diagnosed at age 57, but had been hassling the doctors for some years before that.  I had a gradual onset which began in my early 50's.

Even the medics agree that the onset is apparently earlier these days.  I say apparently, but I know that until very recently PMR was considered to be an 'old person's' disease and I suspect that the 'rheumatics' complained about by my grandmother's generation was PMR and its other friends in autoimmune conditions.  It's only now that the generations have caught up and are able to express themselves and are sceptical enough to not believe that the Doctor knows everything.  Certainly my grandmother thought the doctor was God and what he said went! 

We are finding that we still need to educate the medics on occasion but we are beginning to win and there is more research being done in the background than ever before.  Not one of us likes, or wants to take, steroids but they are still the only effective medication and we are trying to solve that problem.  Just haven't quite got there yet! 

Thanks for replying. Much appreciated. I suppose that when my grandmother and mother was my age, they 'seemed' older, but as people today lead busier lives, we think we can go on and on. Its only in the past few years that I have begun to realise my limitations, even thought I feel young. Ill am going to do some homework on here to help myself, so that I am well informed so that I know what to expect, and try to turn this into a positive, rather than feeling sorry for myself. I know that there are a lot of people out there suffering one way or another, so I shall count my blessings and get on with it.