Hi Folks:
I've been noticing a pattern where when the barometric pressure is changing (up or down) as storms enter and exit the area., that I'm more uncomfortable than I am when the weather is holding steady. It doesn't seem to matter much if it's raining or shining, it's the change that bothers me most.
Is this normal for PMR, or is there something else going on?
The Germans have accepted for many years that weather has a strong influence on various diseases and some channels even have a bio-weather forecast. BP and rheumatic disease are both particularly commonly affected and how does depend a bit on the person.
Given that PMR in the past was probably what our grandparents called "my rheumaticks" there was trasitionally also a role played by locality - low lying damp areas were always felt to be not ideal places to live if you have rheumatism.
A study was done in the UK a year or two ago - and they agreed - weather doesn't help. Sorry - can't find a link!
You might like this
mnn.com/health/fitness-well...
and this
ciesin.org/docs/001-338/001...
But basically they think the pain experienced in changing weather is due to barometric pressure changes affecting the fluid of air bubbles in the joints. Which one assumes could also apply to muscles. I don't know - what I do know is that I can predict a change in the weather 3 days ahead more reliably than the Met Office!
Thanks for this, Pro.
In my 20s and 30s, I used to get migraines with rapid changes in weather (sudden thunderstorms), or if really big storm fronts were on their way (hurricanes, blizzards, nor'easters).
Not so much since menopause, who knows why.
I'm really feeling it in my right thigh this week, with different storm fronts moving into New York from different directions. Tuesday wasn't good. Yesterday was better. Today back to aching again.
Just when you think you've gotten past one thing, something else reappears or something else crops up...
But at least I can look forward to the weather moving out and perhaps feeling better...
" I can predict a change in the weather 3 days ahead more reliably than the Met Office!"
Me too, I am glad someone else has mentioned it, my family think I'm bonkers when I say "I can feel a change coming in my bones"
Thank you Auntie PMRpro, support at long last.
Pete 😀
An interesting question GG! 
I'm sure you're onto something here. Personally, since PMR, I've felt noticeably more 'flat' when there's high humidity (esp. damp / 'muggy' weather, even if it's not raining). I'm sure PMRpro is right about lower oxygenation in the blood as a result of differing air quality - not to mention pollution levels too.
On my travels over the years, I've noticed that in Eastern and Northern UK coasts which have drier air (even if cooler), I've felt remarkably better, even pre-PMR. The south west of the UK is known to be damper generally (tail-end of warm, wet Atlantic Gulf Stream and all that?), and I notice the difference when I travel to East Anglia. And the Nordic countries / parts of Eastern Europe always feel marvellously 'fresh'!
I do remember as a kid - about 100 years ago.. ha ha 
- people in the UK talking about 'rheumaticky' aches and pains simply being associated with 'old age'. Little did they know about PMR in those days!
MB
In the 50s there was no point knowing it was PMR - there was no generally available treatment. Like antibiotics, pred was still in nappies...
PMRPro - you raise an interesting point - I cannot imagine how it would be if there was no treatment for this condition?! It still baffles me how some on this forum endured several months prior to diagnosis. Looking back - I went from reasonably fit to being practically crippled within the space of 3 weeks; yet I don’t recall anyone in my youth being similarly afflicted. How long has the condition been recognised?
I had 5 YEARS before diagnosis and pred!
Both my maternal grandfather and a great aunt on my mother's side almost certainly had PMR - in retrospect I recognise the walk! The aunt was unable to raise her arms to do her hair and that was put down to angina. Don't think there was a lot wrong with her ticker - she eventually died of gastroenteritis at IRO 90! Without the gastro I suspect she'd STILL be going - she was the creaking gate in the family, not allowed to go into nursing at 18 because she was "too frail"!! That was in the 1950s. But both of them carried on a normal sort of life or their age - just they had "dreadful rheumaticks".
PMR was first described and named "senile rheumatic gout" in 1888 by a Scottish doctor. GCA was first described only 2 years later in 1890 by Hutchinson. However - the association between the two was only made in the 1960s. Pred was first identified as a way of managing PMR in 1951. The history is tortuous - but this article I find quite illuminating;
clinexprheumatol.org/articl...
I almost get the impression there was less dispute about PMR symptoms then than now. Hands, feet, not joints ...
You sound like a country woman! I get a headache before a storm and lovely relief at the first crack of thunder, so I love storms. I am sure we used to be much more in tune with weather when we lived more directly with the land. We're quite sensitive with PMR, wet weather seems to cause more pain. We are better for warmth except for the head sweats.
I'm a NYC Girl, actually, but living one's whole life on an island and spending weekends by the sea gives an appreciation for weather's power - and you pay attention because the impact of bad weather is multiplied by the millions of people so close around you. Traffic, subways, ferries, shattered windows and swaying towers, falling building facades, failing electric (fear of being trapped in elevators or trapped on a high floor wthout elevators), even food supplies can be a real problem when storms are bad, as we recently re-learned from Superstorm Sandy and a record breaking 3 foot + snowfall last winter.
Yep, there's no place like NYC.
I can certainly relate! One drop of snow creates havoc on the roads! Rain can slow highways to a crawl. My PMR seems worse in the cold.
Will it rain this Sunday weather girl? Taking my dog out in the city unnerves me! It’s much easier letting her in and out in NJ! My plans will depend on your forecast!
Weather reports indicate we're in for a soaking on Sunday.
So I heard. No fun in the city. May go back to Jersey Sunday morning.
Feeling very stiff this morning...early Pred hasn’t helped much after 2 hours. Maybe it’s because I played with grandchildren in Central Park yesterday and walked about 4 miles or the coming storm. Trouble getting my engine going.
How are you? How’s pain level?
I'm sitting on the couch watching the morning shows. I'll be fine as long as I don't try to do much of anything else today. I'm at the stage where I don't have pain unless I'm trying to walk or carry something that weighs more than 5 lbs.
Tomorrow morning will be a different story during the commute.
Glad you are resting. I actually feel a little better since I took a short walk. Still not right. Sure is a miserable day!
Hope you’re OK tomorrow.
Thanks, Sandy. I actually spent Friday and Saturday out and about because the weather was so fine, planning to couch surf watching old movies today. There's a turkey in the oven and the apple crisp is cooling on the windowsill.
Getting to work tomorrow won't be fun, but it will be ok. Nowhere near as bad as Superstorm Sanday, as I am reminded on this 5th anniversary.
As ever, grateful for what is.
Grateful is good! Just had a cheese burger and fries at Irvington in the W Hotel. A rare treat! Yum! Took my dog out in torrential downpour! Just one more walk !
Can we bend this thread to discuss seasonal variations in onset and flares? Site reports significant increase in GCA positive temporal artery biopsies in late winter and autumn
Seasonal variation of rheumatic diseases.
Schlesinger N1, Schlesinger M.
Author information
Abstract
Extract: Seasonal variation has been shown in a number of rheumatic diseases (diseases involving the joints and related structures). The incidence of acute gouty attacks (an inflammatory arthritis) is highest in the spring. The onset or exacerbation of rheumatoid arthritis, the onset of Wegener's granulomatosis (chronic tissue inflammation and cellular clumping in the nasal passages, lungs and kidneys), anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) associated kidney inflammation (glomerulonephritis) and systemic vasculitis are all seen more commonly in the winter. There is a significant increase in the incidence of positive biopsies in giant cell arteritis (vascular inflammation of the temple) in late winter and autumn. In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE, an autoimmune disease in which antibodies to self components are found in the blood stream and in tissues) there may be a tendency for different organs to be affected during different seasons. In SLE patients, there is an increased incidence of photosensitive skin rashes in the summer and of joint pain in the winter and spring. A significantly higher prevalence in the winter and spring was observed among SLE patients with class V lupus nephritis (LN, inflammation of the kidneys), as compared with the summer and fall. A similar trend was seen for seasonal variation of the percentage of class III lupus nephritis patients.
PMID: 20704926
There is one study that suggests there is an increase in GCA presentations in approximately 10 year cycles that relate to the similar length cycles of solar activity.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
sciencedaily.com/releases/2...
This has of course led to some supposition about a link to autoimmune disease in general.
Weather related flares
symptoms in hot weather
Thoughts on Pred and the underlying illness
Effects of weather - there may not be an answer to this.
Flair and hot weather
