?PMR

Hello . Reporting back from doctors visit this morning. Lovely, sympathetic woman trainee GP. Conferred with senior GP who was dubious due to normal blood tests. However, he agreed to try 15mg of presilone for 5 days. Unfortunately diagnosis will be compromised by my Xray showing fractured lumbar verebra. This may account for back and thigh pain but not the other symptoms in my hands and arms etc. Will just have to wait and see! Thank you and very good wishes to you all for your kind advice and friendly comments.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Hope it is enough and long enough - but it is better than nothing. Fingers crossed - report back!!!

[Rosedail]

Hmmm. I can understand why it may be difficult for your physicians to diagnose possible PMR on top of the other issues. I find myself wondering if you experienced some sort of trauma that fractured your vertebra and may be contributing to other symptoms...and/or possibly the onset of PMR. In any case, yes, please let us know how things turn out.

As far as what might distinguish PMR from other pain or injuries, for me it was equal discomfort on both sides of my body, a circumstance I believe the clinicians call "bilateral". Over a period of two weeks it went from the back of my legs, up my back, out through my shoulders and out to my elbows. I could not raise my arms even to shoulder level. My strength level was still normal and my physician would make me push against her arms to test that. I also experienced a much greater stiffness and lack of coordination after sitting (and certainly sleeping) for a while. Also, my experience of PMR was that the pain and stiffness was more in my muscles than in my joints or muscle/ligament attachment points. (Although a caveat to that is my joints over time were and remain more prone to injury and sometimes that pain I felt more in one joint than another and so that was not so much bilateral. But the joint issues were not in the first months and came only with time. ) My muscles looked quite normal, but they felt constrained, like they were stuffed into sacks that were too small for them, much like an overstuffed pillow. They wouldn't work properly nor work together properly. Also, like most others, once I started on the prednisone, I felt great relief. For me it was within 60 to 90 minutes! Best to you!

[Soraya_PMR in reply to Rosedail]

“My muscles looked quite normal, but they felt constrained, like they were stuffed into sacks that were too small for them, much like an overstuffed pillow. They wouldn't work properly”

I like this description Rosedail. It makes sense to me. In my head, my muscles had been tangled in strong rubber bands, restricting function. When the “morning stiffness” subsided (which was about 7pm for me), it was as though someone had cut the rubber bands and I could walk again.....until 3am when the restriction became burning pain.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Soraya_PMR]

Mine was worst in my feet - they felt as if I had thick socks on and then had been crammed into shoes that were too small and then laced up, like Chinese women's feet were bound. And when I stood up or walked I was walking on a mixture of pebbles and broken glass.

We discussed this on another forum some years ago and there were quite a few people who came up with similar descriptions.

[Rosedail in reply to PMRpro]

Wow. Interesting and good to know. I never experienced any pain in my feet, but a number of people have spoken about their feet feeling "prickly".