PMR and Physical Fatique and Lack of Stamina
Posted , 13 users are following.
I am 65 y/0 male,3 yrs plus with PMR and currently down to 4 mg/daily prednisone. This issue has been posted before but after recent visit to rheumatologist am again frustrated and posting again. After the new year i had been doing pretty well and more physically active but by mid May I pretty much hit a wall with nearly constant fatigue and lack of any stamina upon any exertion or physical activity. Some days worse than others and some with what i would call "brain fog" just a general malaise. Still have morning aches and pains which the pred does seem to dissipate. In discussing with rheumy in June he discounted the fatique being due to PMR since my inflammation markers (sed rate and c-reative protein) were in a "normal" range etc. Think she considers my PMR in remission yet she is keeping me on 4 mg for time being and has been cautious in reducing PMR which i think is good. She discounted a link with PMR and general fatique and tiredness and brain fog as i was description. She suggested it may be something else going on and suggested i see my general physician if it continues. Is not fatique and tiredness a symptom of PMR? I certainly have thought so, so get frustrated by her discounting any connection. From my blood work she did it noted that my RBC (low), MCV(high), MCH (high) were slighly outside normal range which i thought might be a symptom of anemia but she said they were not significant to be a concern. Is there a connection to anemia from PMR or prednisone? Considering seeing my gp but wondered if anyone has any feedback on these issues. Thanks.
0 likes, 29 replies
joe95312 vawils
Posted
FWIW, I am in the very early stage of treatment, taking 20 mgs and still have a lot of pain, but I also certainly have serious fatigue, particularly with exertion, and occasional brain fog and general malaise. My gp still thinks it's just PMR but I'm wondering whether it might also be fibromyalgia or something else.
mimi1950 joe95312
Posted
Hi Joe, I think a lot of us must go through a stage when we think we have something more or something completely different from PMR/GCA.I went through it, about six months into predisone and six weeks into Methotrexate.I even told the rheumi that I felt I had been misdiagnosed ..he just chuckled and so did Eileen, probably😂.
I found it very challenging to distinguish PMR symptoms from pred.side effects, over exsertion, and , in my case, a broken pelvis .I didn't even think to add Mtx into the equation.
There are just so many variables, it's crazy!
It turned out it was PMR, my markers finally went down after many months and I've accepted PMR, whose power I had underestimated. Im still learning, Just this morning I panicked and wrote a long querry. Thank goodness I lost it while I was typing. I'm fine now.I had gone to the gym, found the lift out of order so walked up three flights.I did a bit of rowing and the elyptical machine. As I was getting off the machine, one of the trainers "invited " me to do a 20 minute stretching class. When I got home I decided to lie down and read some posts on the forums.All of a sudden, I was hit by total body pain and big time fatigue. I thought it couldn't be delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) because it was only 15 minutes after my work out, thus, the post I luckily lost, because I'm fine now.
Hope you get to the bottom of your symptoms soon.
EileenH mimi1950
Posted
mimi1950 EileenH
Posted
I learned a lesson today...this learning process is never-ending ! Also, this is the first summer I've ever spent in Madrid..we have a place in the Sierra but this year it's been occupied by my daughter ( anything to get her out of the Colombian jungle)..we are having the highest temperatures ever to be recorded in Spain😓.. it musn't be doing anything good for my pmr!
Michdonn mimi1950
Posted
mimi 1950, listen to your body, do something see how you feel. Take a rest people who do not have PMR do not realize the battle we are fighting. EileenH and another person got me moving. I just want to sit, but then got moving a little bit and sit a rest till I would repeat what I had just done for a second time. Each few days up to a week I would repeat the same thing.
Do not over do it! 🙂
mimi1950 Michdonn
Posted
Michdonn mimi1950
Posted
mimi1950, we are all in the same boat, EileenH, who got me going tells me the same. I have been a very active person in my life and this PMR has made me look at what I am doing and pay attention to how my body feels. We will get there one step at a time. Pushing forward with a smile on my face! 🙂
EileenH mimi1950
Posted
Does seem a bit cosy over your way! It is lovely here - down to 8C in the eraly morning the last 2 mornings so it took a while to get hot, 15C this morning and already 20C at 9am which is unusual. But temperatures rarely much above 30C - and if you go a bit higher it's even better. Love mountains!
Michdonn EileenH
Posted
mimi1950 EileenH
Posted
Wow...that sounds like paradise! Here, it hasn't gone down below 23 for days..time to move!
BTW, I am experiencing the worst case of DOMS...from the places where my body aches like crazy , I gather it was the stretching that did it! I thought stretching the muscles was not taxing ..boy was wrong😨
EileenH mimi1950
Posted
Anhaga EileenH
Posted
We enjoy the cooling effect of living so close to the North Atlantic. Nevertheless right now it's hot and sticky and we are subject to what they call the humidex, where the thermometer says one thing but it feels much warmer. Prediction for Thursday is we'll feel temperatures in the mid to high 30s, which is really hot here! I love my heat pump (cools the house in the summer for the cost of running the fan
Silver49 Anhaga
Posted
It's even hot and sticky in Scotland. Thank goodness for air conditioning in the car. I think the heat is agreeing with me as I managed several sets of stairs in shops. I was not shopping through choice. I dare say tomorrow will tell if I have overdone it.
Anhaga vawils
Posted
Just chipping in with my own experience. Your feelings of fatigue are very similar to mine. I have been like this since at about 7mg, although I think it was worse then. Maybe I just wasn't used to it then? I'm now at about 1.5 and can do a fair amount, but always need to have a good rest, or I crash. I figure my adrenals are producing enough to cope with normal fairly quiet life, but if anything new comes up, even a fun socializing hour or two with friends, there isn't enough cortisol being produced and I need recovery time. Looking forward to eventually getting off this erratic ride, but think it's going to take a long time!