Rock hard muscles?

Not sure. I take Accrette twice daily. Is that it? Once I get out this lovely warm bath I can take a look at what is in it x

Accrete is just vit D3. 

You can get magnesium at the chemist - but some people find Epsom salt baths help since you say you can manage in and out of a bath! Don't take too much magnesium at a time - it might give you the runs!

Glad for you! Whatever brings comfort and ease to our existence is highly valuable!🌸

You are the only other person with PMR that I know of who has had the dry needling like I did! Glad it worked for you too. Seems any non-invasive, affordable procedure is worth a try when you are in pain.

good luck to you...Kathy

I've had dry needling - and wet needling where they do the needling technique but using either muscle relaxants or steroids. But that was in Germany and in German-speaking Italy. The UK? Not sure where you could find it though I do remember finding it mentioned somewhere when I googled it.

My physiotherapist says that there is serious thought that often when people seem much better after an injection it's not always because of the medication but sometimes because of the needle itself.  She sent me links to a couple of studies about that.  

Is the needling very much like acupuncture, if not what is the difference?....will try anything for relief....Thank you

I had acupuncture years ago for another problem, and it involved a row of tiny needles being inserted along the back of my neck and towards the shoulders.  They would be left in place for a few minutes.  There were successive treatments with fewer and fewer needles each time.  The physiotherapist at the time did not talk about evidence of any changes in the area although she explained that as my condition improved she was reducing the number of needles.  The treatment did not hurt.  Dry needling involves a needle being deliberately inserted in a muscle that's too tight and removed right away.  The needle is then inserted in another place, there is never more than one needle in place at a time.  Sometimes I've found it excruciatingly painful - although only for a second or two - other times just a little prick, and sometimes it feels like a finger is being pushed into the muscle, which I assume is a nerve setting off some sort of signal.  The physiotherapist talks about how the tone in the muscles is improving, but of course I can't see or really feel that, as the treatment is all happening either side of my spinal column.  So the treatments are very different.

Thanks for that....will think about wether to go for it or not....there are a couple of places nearby, so will decide after seeing doctor next week....which I don`t think will have all the answers!  Have had acupuncture years ago for back problem...it was ok, but very temporary.  If dry needling got me over this horrible flare well I would be grateful even for that.  I have always believed in trying all different things, even together....Thank you...

Yes, Anhaga has described needling well. It can hurt a lot for seconds - but I never thought the pain wasn't worth it.

Will try I think....sounds like  a discription of childbirth!...

It is nowhere near like childbirth I can assure you - just a short sharp stab and then it's over.  I've been thinking more about your question however and I think the basic difference between the two treatments is acupuncture aims to balance the energy lines in the body, whereas needling targets specific muscles.  I cannot speak to whether needling will help a flare as I haven't (yet, fingers crossed) had a true flare, and it was a strategy my physiotherpist thought would help me with a bunch of back issues.  When I started getting low intensity light therapy from her I had also recently been diagnosed with "low bone mass" as well as x-rays showing various issues with my spine, so I think she wasn't targeting PMR so much as ways to alleviate mild scoliosis and generally improve alignment in my back.  I think she also thought it would help with referred pain as I was having a lot of discomfort in one hip which I assumed was sciatica.  I've had osteoarthritis in my spine for many years.  Certainly I don't have as much trouble with my hip any more when walking, although I still can't lie on my side for more than a minute or two before developing pain.  If you have very tense or even spasmed muscles, whether caused by PMR or not, then, yes, I think needling will help.  I didn't even know I had these tense muscles!

Needling doesn't help the PMR as far as I can tell. But it DOES help with the add-ons - which usually means you then get away with less pred.

No, not childbirth (says she who had 2 c-sections) - except that the result is good and you dismiss the pain in retrospect!

Thank you for that...it explains a lot, because I also have your scoliosis problem, which can affect my hip also....my back always feels close to going into spasm, which inturn I feel makes it feel stiff because of protecting it, this obviously makes things worse, but can`t be helped, (unless we gat something done to it, like dryneedling etc)but I do know my muscles are tense!....

Like Eilleen says, it`s the "add-ons"  what make it all the more difficult, so it`s any port in a storm for relief I say....Good luck....

I also had a slight scoliosis identified by a doctor in Germany when I was in my late 20s - and all the back problems probably stemmed to some extent from that. At the time I had a whiplash injury - which had upset the balance my back muscles had achieved and maintained for years. That was when I spent 9 months having therapeutic massage - and he nearly managed to disperse the trigger points in the shoulders and low back then but we went back to the UK where all I managed to find - and it took a long time - was Pilates and Bowen therapy. The combo of PMR and neither Bowen nor Pilates when we moved here didn't seem a problem to start with - until I had another whiplash injury and it was all downhill from there. Once it gets to a certain point it just tips over the edge all of a sudden. The difficult thing is to find a method of relieving the spasmed muscles that is relatively easily available - here at least I know I can access doctors who will use needling although I'd probably have to pay for it myself. But it is there if the longer term prophylaxis of Bowen and exercise fails for some reason. Unfortunately Pilates here costs a fortune - going to a doctor privately is cheaper!

Quite agree with what you have said...I was 21 when my scoliosis came to the fore...I did pilates several years ago, and to some degree did help, until I developed Fibromyalgia...it is expensive here too....

Wish we had doctors that do dryneedling, my doctor has used a quick acupunture needle on me when I have crawled into her surgery (which will be Monday)...

To be honest Eileen, my quality of life (going out travelling etc) is very limited now...and having worked since 16 (25 years UEA, retired through ill health) and at 64, I don`t care what I have to spend to be pain free....I have earned it!.....that`s what I tell myself....I would dearly love to go to Norway on a cruise, but know I can`t....the pain and fatigue just makes it impossible, but I never say never....I truely think there`s something out there to tap into to, that will ease things!!

That's the really disappointing thing about having PMR - it generally waits until we get to about retirement to come along. We bought this flat to use to ski, we moved here permanently when David retired and since then one winter after another something has happened to mess up the skiing for me - until now I've decided it isn't worth bothering going to effort (not to mention the expense). 

We're off to Canada in June for a week on a bus tour and then a cruise north of Vancouver - I will manage it, flare or no flare. I was amazed how much walking I was able to do in China last year - had I known what the programme would be I wouldn't have booked it so I'm glad I didn't. The river cruise was the easiest bit in fact.

I must admit last year we just had a few days away in the Rutland area, it was lovely and quiet,  lovely cottage, near Stamford, and we went out every day...I couldn`t walk far....until the last two days...then I felt more like it....I have to admit, I feel so much more less stressed away from home....I`m not tied at all to a mobile...only when necessary.  I have a relative with mental health problems....she tells me....I`m all she`s got, has tried suicide twice....so you can imagine....can`t not answer her when she rings....what`s to do though!....and going on hols I tell her I`m out of reach....so I answer my own problem, I know that....mind and body....will look for that book that you recommended as well....

I`m sure you will manage the hols to Canada, even though you have had a setback...I take it your higher dose is working..I hope so!...