After 60 days with this condition I finally received an appointment with a Rheumatologist. He quickly diagnosed PMR, handed me a brief fact sheet, adjusted the daily dose of prednisone from my GP, scheduled a future blood and appointment. I can tell from the waiting room that he has a busy practice and can't allocate much time for each appointment. I find your website extremely helpful in understanding the disease and the unfortunate long term struggle toward remission.
Helpful PMR information from this website - PMRGCAuk
Helpful PMR information from this website
How was his fact sheet? Bet the "facts" don't coincide with most of our facts!
The fact sheet was rudimentary, but a place to start. At the beginning I couldn't even spell the disease. I followed up with the Mayo clinic website which provided more detail, but many of my questions and concerns remained unanswered. I find it helpful to learn how others are coping. I remember the extreme pain at the onset of this condition. Thankful for the relief provided by Prednisone in site of its side effects.
I was going to give you a link to a post on site called patient.info but it seems to be messing about. They have a PMR and GCA forum there too - it was the original UK one - and at the top of the list of threads is one with a post with a whole load of approved links.
This may help get it if you google it - once the gurus have sorted it out:
patient.info › Discussion Forums › Bones, joints and muscles
Another site you may find some answers is this one:
where there are articles by both doctors and other healthcare professionals as well as patients. They also have a DVD and booklet for general purchase (sent to their members as part of a pack as well) explaining a lot about PMR and GCA in ordinary language. They also have an associated forum.
The link provided helpful patient information. Thanks for your feedback.