Last year I ran over 1000 miles including a Marathon. Now I wish I could just run a few!

If you were in good shape before getting PMR, your recovery most likely will be faster. However, it took me almost one year of GRADUAL training to get back to previous level of fitness. Actually moderate physical activity helps to overcome stiffness and other PMR symptoms. The key is moderate.  Start with just walks, and gradually increase distance. When you start with runs, do the easy, not more then 50-60% of max effort.  Keep in mind that PMR will not go in remission for a long time... For some lucky ones it is 2 years, but the average is closer to 5. Adjust to new normal and be careful not to hurt yourself.

The reason you need to keep it at moderate level is that PMR causes inflammation in small blood vessels of peripheral muscles and restricts blood supply to muscles causing you to cross into anaerobic state at much lower intensity then usual.

So be careful, but there is a hope, so stay positive.

14-15 months ago, I considered myself a dressage rider. I could train and compete two  serious, 600-650kg fit, lively horses.

In the past year, I've had to massively rethink what I can do. I have been able to compete a few times, and managed last place in a championship I had qualified for pre PMR.

But every day I think tomorrow I will be better. I've managed to just about keep the horses fit, and their training hasn't gone backwards. 

This is a vile vile disease with so many twists and turns, but tomorrow IS another day and hopefully will be better than this!

plus, lucky you, you're a man....

Glad Nick replied to you - he's our exercise guru!  Somewhere in the forums there is an account of a marathon runner who came down with PMR but after a while was able to run marathons again.  I'm sure someone will be along who knows more details about this story.  

sorry you had to join our club, but we have a great group of people who will help you along your journey. From everything i’ve read, PMR can last anywhere from 2 years on up, but as long as your steroid dose is keeping the inflammation under control, and the pain that goes with it, you don’t have to be debilitated. And you can go back to your previous activities. I had PMR for two years, went off the steroids July 31, and I just got done climbing a ladder to clean the gutters, which I had to struggle to do before. I can do everything that I did before, and more. Just listen to your body, do what you can, and don’t force it. You’ll get through it. Good luck.

On the Healthunlocked forum there was a guy who was a firefighter when his PMR struck, He was training for a long distance run at the time and ended up in a wheelchiar. He was back training for shorter runs about 18 months later. You can read his story on the NE of England PMRGCA website: http://www.pmr-gca-northeast.org.uk/our-people.php ; John Robson.

I imagine this is the story Anhaga means.

Hi Stephen,

I am 68 years-old and was diagnosed with PMR late in October.  I tried lower doses of prednisolone but soon ended up on 24 mg, split 17/7, taken at 8 am and pm.  Splitting the dose gave me 24 hours relief instead of just 9 hours, beginning in the late afternoon.  Sounds a bit like you!

Incidentally, I'm now symptom-free on a 12/7 split, having found that reducing my evening dose leads to PMR pain from early morning until late in the afternoon.  If my dose is just a little too low, PMR inflammation begins to show itself, in the outer shoulders, after a few days.  But if the dose were lower still, full PMR symptoms would rapidly return and inflammation could take weeks to recede.

As for heavy exercise, I have been fully back to normal since beginning the 24 mg: tennis, badminton, running cycling, aerobics, gym, and skating.  So perhaps you may run marathons sooner than you think. 

Hi Stephen - you will run again but as Nick says you have to approach your training gradually. I was diagnosed in Nov '16 and at one time I was on 60mg a day. I'm now on 3mg of Prednisone and restarted "training" towards the end of last year. I say training in inverted commas because you have to be careful not to trigger an inflammatory response by going too hard. I was a keen cyclist and although early-retired to SW France could ride with the fast group. After diagnosis I couldn't even get my leg over the bike! The thing to remember is you can't 'beat' it. You have to follow and as your health improves do a little more. I use a power-meter when I cycle and all my rides are zone 2 and if I feel good I increase the time I spend on the bike rather than the intensity. I've also gone really low-carb with my diet too; I was meaning to give it a try and it gave me the nudge I needed. Although there's no way of telling I'm inclined to thing that maybe I was over-training which compromised my immune-system and led to the PMR (shhh don't tell my partner. A roasting from a Française is terrifying to behold!). Anyways I'm sure you'll do OK. Just remember - slow and steady wins the race!