Polymyalgia hit me out of nowhere......

Hello Granny Moss

They check your bloods for all sorts of things when you are on steroids just to make sure the steroids arent doing any damage

Unless you can really take it easy you may have to go up slightly on the steroids as this is such a busy time of year Lots of people only have to go up a half a mg to feel better

Dont worry about asking questions but if you read about us all our journeys have all been different so there is no set answer to anything it still a case of how do you feel and my Dr always says you know how you feel so only reduce wgh=hen you feel well enough

Have a nice evening with your wine a Risotto The best Risotto I ever has was a prawn one in Venice followed by Turbot baked in the oven with potatos It was fantastic My husbands favourite was a white truffle risotto in Tuscany

Best wishes

Mrs G

Granny Moss,

\"Full blood count\" or FBC is the quick way to ask the haematology laboratory at the hospital to check your haemoglobin level, how many red blood cells, how many white blood cells and a few other things. Sometimes it includes all the different sorts of white cells you have. There is one special tube for that. Then there will have been a request for several things that the biochemistry lab will test for - calcium, sodium and a load of other things, maybe vitamin D, tests that show how your liver is doing, others that show how your kidneys are. Just standard procedure! It just sounds complicated! I told you before about ESR and CRP - sometimes the doctors thing that if that is down, then you can reduce the steroid dose. That isn't always so. Mine have never been high - I can only tell by how I feel and that is the best way, if you feel good, OK, if you don't maybe you need a bit more prednisolone.

MrsK has said lots of sensible things as always. PMR doesn't have a cure. The steroids won't cure it, they just reduce the inflamation enough to be able to stop the pain it causes. If you go too low with the steroids, the inflammation will start again and the pain will come back. One day the PMR may go away - maybe not. One day they may find what is the cause - and find a cure.

You have to learn to accept - as we all do - that you have a chronic illness. It is not something that will kill you - just make you very uncomfortable and very tired sometimes. If you work with it, things are not that bad. But if you try to fight it, ignore it, carry on as you did before, then it will make things harder. You have to learn to \"manage\" it - it's a bit like a difficult child, there are ways round it. And one is to learn what you can get away with doing and what you can't. Invite friends round if it makes you feel happier to have the company - but either go to S'burys or M&S or somewhere and buy the food ready-made or ask your friends to come to visit but could they please bring a starter/main course/dessert. After all, in Italy you would probably go to a restaurant - it's the company that is important, not what you eat. Or think about it a long way in advance and make a course a day that will freeze or keep in the frig. Real friends won't mind and will understand - the others don't matter.

You are going about it the right way - a sherry, risotto and a glass of wine! All sounds good to me! That will do fine for the visitors - after all, risotto is easy (why do the Brits, including Delia, think it is such a big deal? Or maybe I shouldn't have given that secret away!)

EileenH

[i:c18eaa0678]Dear Eileen, You were up so late ! and took time to write to me. You are always so right ! I did overdo it...yesterday. This morning I took the advice based on the experience of my dear friends on this site, and too an extra 1mg of Pred. Hope the pain will go away.The fact that you tell me this is a \" permanent disease....\"has made me quite as, when I think that only about 5 months ago, I had never even heard of this illness. I have been so lucky,and never had to take regular medications. I am 87 (September 7) and was very active, having just finished redecorating my bedroom....I stripped the walls, and painted them over with a 2 1/2 inch brush....I painted the door and windows....etc. and made a chandelier with two pretty glass shades from Age Concern (charity shop) and hang on it, pretty beads necklaces from same shop....I made a picture (cut out shapes of an Angel...dressed in white and silver from wedding wrapping paper...a crown on the blonde hair, cut out from the edge of a silver doily...) and glued on a background of blue

card, were I drew in silver marker, lovely stars....

I have been so very active up to that terrible morning when I woke up in

pains never experienced in my life. Childbirth pains had nothing by comparison. I cannot tell you how glad that I have found you all, my friends and fellow sufferers, because you are the only ones that understand what this \"mess\" can do to one's mind and outlook for the future. Day to day it is not too bad. But I try not too think of a future with this on me. So, I will try and go from day to day, and manage to learn to live with it. I am very lucky that I have found a lovely lady that comes and does the housework. So, I will listen to you Eileen, and get easy food if anyone comes. Microwave and slow cookers will be very useful from now. Bless you for being so kind. You are an inspiration for the faint hearted....like me I am going to make a few Christmas cards now, strictly for the family, (14 of them !....) All the best, Granny Moss.

PS. Is it too soon to wish everybody a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR ? ? !..... [/i:c18eaa0678]

Granny Moss - I was up late because I went to fetch my car from Garmisch in southern Germany after it was repaired. They said it would be ready at 3pm. But it got stuck on the motorway after an accident so it was 2 hours late. When I got back I found work that had arrived after I left that had to be finished for today. And here is the real laugh - I have a British car but the mechanic has replaced the right headlight with a German one so when I dip the headlights one dips to the left and one to the right! A car with strabismus!!!!!! :roll: :lol: You couldn't make it up!

Of course it isn't too early for Happy Christmas!

EileenH

:lol: :lol: :lol: That's a first! :bus: (so its a bus, couldn't find a car!). We drive in Europe so much I wish we had headlights that would dip left or right (probably could if we had a posh car). Take care Eileen.

Lizzie Ellen

[u:c27d191525]Eileen,nice you have your car back.I am afraid, on my birthday, they sent me a new driving licence valid for another 3 years.....!What brains in these government offices....they all sit on them.....I would never be so insane as to go and try to drive any vahicle, not even a trycicle in the traffic of today.....I said to my husband, when he mounted the kirb (again) That's it. You can drive anywhere you want, but me, I will not be in there with you, and that was that ! If we have hospital appointments, we take a taxi. If the weather is really bad, we stay in. When it is nice, we have the bus stop a few steps from home, and it takes 5 minutes into the city centre.I order mostly online. Sainsbury's were 30 minutes late this mosrning, so I got a ten pound voucher to use....The young girl has to come into Norwhich to deliver, from Thetford ! ! !....and we have the largest Sainsbury straight down the road about 10 minutes away ! ! ! ......I told her, no wonder the country is in such a mess, with brains like that to run businesses etc etc.....I truli believe that if women were not the chidld bearers, and men would have the babies.....we would have no overpopulation prooblems, and no banks and stock exchanges ruining the economics....and etc etc.....My husband and I had Norovirus....a couple of years back. Caught it from his sister that was staying with us ( B&B) and she bought it to us, having caught it from the other sister that was sick at the hospital, which was in quarantine for the virus.....etc etc.....Good point about Christmas...With the poor memory and wolly brain I have at the present, I wanted to make sure I could not forget....Love to you all. Granny Moss :wink: [/u:c27d191525]

Well.....talk about brains......I have just read my comment, and seriously and very humbly apologise for bad spelling...and all the underlining....I am going now into a corner with my dunce hat on....love Granny

Dear Granny Moss,

You seem to have had, and are having, such a rich, creative and enjoyable life, what with your cards and your pictures, and the lovely sounding risotto and the glasses of wine! You make me, and I'm sure lots of others, feel warm and better for hearing about it. So keep at it - it's your special contribution to this site! :D :D Like Eileen's expertise is, only different!

You might not get back to the decorating (how many people in their late 80s still manage to decorate?) but there are lots of slightly smaller scale things I'm sure. I found I couldn't knit or sew because it made my shoulders ache (repetitive actions) but I've just found an article on decoupage (spelling ?) so that's my project for the New Year, using Christmas wrapping paper and cards etc. I've got a lot of boring boxes and things I could brighten up. And if the weather's grotty in January and February i shall need to think of lots of things like that. My family are always wanting me to write down what life was like when I was a child too. Bet you could make that sound fascinating!

I do hope some of the aches and pains are getting a bit better ---you do learn to live with them and manage them gradually. Just takes a while.

Keep warm thoughts and a warm body, with love, Green Granny

I gave up the decorating when in my 40s. I fell off a stepladder whilst papering in the bathroom and my husband - who was sitting about 12 feet away - didn't even come to see if I was OK! So I said sod it! Professional decorators need to earn a crust and I had a wonderful guy.

Funny - I gave up knitting because it made my shoulders hurt, but that was long before I would have said I had PMR. Now I can't do fiddly things because my fingers don't work properly - only way I can describe it. They work alright on the keyboard (computer, not piano-type). At least I don't drop things as much since I've been on steroids. I'd never been the sort of person who dropped breakables until PMR. One of the worst things used to be how much it hurt to hold a glass of wine - never mind lift it to my mouth! :lol: :roll:

I just hope I can do as much as Granny Moss when I'm 87 - PMR or not! Had the gentleman who drove out in front of me been as sensible as her it would have been much nicer for us (he was 86, apparently there have been no checks in Germany with renewing licences, the EU is to introduce them so all countries are similar). Given the cost of running a car I would have thought the taxi option was fairly good, especially if you can manage to get to the shop by bus or walking to get the shopping and just need one back! When we bought this flat there were criteria: a shop that sold everything essential and an affordable restaurant within walking distance on the flat. We also have a doctor, pharmacy, baker, butcher, TV shop and spare restaurants! We'll have to be pretty decrepit before we have to abandon it - 2nd floor but with a LIFT.

EileenH

EileenH

Yes

We all think you are great Granny Moss !! All the things you are still doing at 87 is amazing I m not allowed to decorate as my painting is so bad according to my husband !! Friends were saying at lunch today what part of the decorating they did and I said I made the tea and told my husband how wonderful he is !! He has just started a complete spruce up of the house as I really didnt feel well enough for it last year and in the summer we like to be outside

It is great you are so realistic about driving also Where I live it is full of retired people who drive automatics and the local paper always puts it in headlines when there is yet another accident caused by the use of the wrong pedal There have been some horrible accidents killing people at a bus stop going through supermarket windows and I was actually caught between a supermarket trolley and a car when someone reversed into me and had to scream at the top of my voice as the elderley man didnt realise he had hit me !! My husbands Aunt who lives in Australia had to take a retest at the age of 90 and passed it !!

Just concentrate on the things you can do and not the things you cant and make sure you are honest with people about how you feel as we all know with PMR we are told how well we look !!! So just tell them you dont feel as well as you look !

Best wishes Mrs G

Dear Green Granny,Thank you for your comments. Are you sure you like to read \"What you did in the war, granny ? ! \" You may never recover from it.....Anyhow, the up to date on how we feel with our Poly....is very helpful and interesting. But, who knows? A little bit of potted life stories could relieve the pains ? or it could drive someone off this site :wink: ?I am going today to the doctor ( and taking a Christmas card I made for her yesterday ) Bribe ?.......I keep hitting the wrong keys...My nails are growing so fast...and hard...and I am in agony when I try to trim them with the little scissors.....Also I cannot blow my nose with my right hand, because the thumb gives me hell...has anyone been successful in blowing the nose with the left hand ?...Does anyone possess a nagging grumpy husband ? I DO !! ! !..... Dear Heileen, I laughed so, when I read your comments, I love the expression \" Sod it ! \" I do not know the meaning, but is sounds lovely !...and makes me feel so GOOD whenever I use it ! Mind you, having worked in Headquarters 8th Army, as a civilian in Italy, after the war, I have learnt many more useful words to relieve stress......I behave ladylike only when other humans are present....animals don't count...or do they? May be they understand more than we think ?.... I am afraid, after some pains were nagging at me, I gave in...and upped my dose of Pred back to 7mg...Will discuss this with the doctor and go from there. Bless you all and read you soon. Granny Moss.

:oops: Dear Mrs G, thank you for an interesting read. I am so lucky to have found so many real friends, as I live in a residential area where people are invisible.....and not at all friendly. We have lived here for 20 years, and only barely know our two neighbours, one at the side and one on the other corner. So, you can understand how much I value the friends I have on this site ! Read you soon ! Let's love surround us ! Granny Moss.

Good morning everyone...I am sad, because I think I may have upset you...I have, yesterday been to the doctor. I come to the conclusion that she is very lovely and eager to understand what is going on in my body, but I do not think she has had much experience of this Polything that torment us. Anyhow, the Rheumatologist at the hospital, had prescribed for me, Vit A and D tablets, also Calcichew-D3 Forte, which contains another 400IU vit D....and my fingernail have grown long and HARD...and they look like the up to date fashion nails with squared white ends.....and they make it difficult to hit the right keys on the board.....thats why I double clicked on a DVD order on line...and now they have despatched double order......of Gromit.....I am :cry: because I was down to 6mg a day, but after 9 days I began to get the pains (they crept up on me ever so quitely...) and the doctor agreed that I should go back to 7 a day. Like some of the advice I received from HeileenH, I shall have to alternate the doses to suit the daily requirement. I confess that I have not yet come to terms with this Polything and I feel very angry about it. I am very lucky that I found Sue, and she told me not to fret, and that she will come to help for as long as I will need her. But I still feel as if I am \" a bit of a fake...\" sitting there in my corner, when my husband is doing things for me. (He is 89, bless him ! )and he has his own aches to contend with !I have been so very independent all my life, worked at all sort of things. Now, I must learn not to moan and make everybody fed up. I will try, but it is'nt so easy, no ? I have so much admiration for you \"writers\" that seem so strong in mind and have such GO.....Bless you. I shall now go, get washed and dressed, and then get on with the rest of the Christmas cards, and try to enjoy doing the things that I can do. Granny Moss

s2xw76Hullo Granny Moss

You havent made us fed up with you !! We have all been in the same place as you !! I was in a very low place when I went from 4mg to 15mg in about a month at the beginning of this year I was saying to a friend today that I can do much more now than I could at the beginning of the year when I couldnt bend to do my housework and spent a lot of the time sitting reading now I am much more active so I am sure you will get there as well

I try now to keep myself away from stressful situation and not put myself under too much pressure so I am entertaining no one this Christmas We are going out quite a bit but I also am turning down some invitations if I feel tired The most important thing to me is to get better

So very best wishes

Mrs G

PS I shall have to sign in again !!

Hi Granny Moss,

I know where you are coming from and I am only 51....well nearly 52 !!!

I just do not have the energy for anything at the moment

and it is SOOOOO frustrating :cry:

This is my first Christmas with PMR and I always have my family to me for dinner, but half of me is wondering will the shoulders even stand up to lifting the turkey out of the oven never mind anything else :roll:

Rolll on the new year and hopefully warmer weather & better health !!!

Love & best wishes, Pauline