As it's not clear why people end up with PMR I have been giving my situation a lot of thought to try and find a way forward. At the end of Sept last year I retired after many years of being very stressed and very weary. At the end of October my father passed away after struggling through 10 years of dementia and all that the condition brings with it (including worrying about my Mum) I wonder if my PMR may have been kicked off by all of this and wonder if anyone has been in the same situation and might have some feedback they can provide for anything that might help
Quite frankly I'm willing to try anything
Anne
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JsyAnne
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I’m so sorry to hear about the passing of your father. My mother has been battling Alzheimer’s for several years now and it’s been rough for all concerned. The physical and emotional toll it’s taken on my father in particular, has been a tough thing to witness.
Stress can definitely manifest its self in many ways. I’m sure other people will be along shortly and can share with you the ways stress can definitely cause and contribute to the intensity and duration of a flare. The best advice I can give you is to be good to yourself. I do many things ranging from halotherapy to MFR massage. I try to eat as clean as possible and I don’t hesitate to indulge in an extra soft snuggle blanket or soft slippers. One of my favorite things is and electric heated shoulder wrap with pockets. Anything that can provide comfort.
If anyone knows a more efficient way to search HealthUnlocked please share. I just tried this: typed polymyalgia stress into the healthunblocked search box. When the complete list (largely irrelevant) came up I then restricted the search to this community (PMRGCAuk). This then showed some relevant and not very ancient threads. Hope this gets you started.
Sorry to hear all of this and I do believe Stress is a major factor in our getting PMR. I have a Relaxation link that I made for the high school students I teach yoga to and think it might be helpful . The last track is the long relaxation! (I should follow my OWN advice! haha ..but it's a bit like the cobblers kids with no shoes. sites.google.com/a/apps.hop...
Stress def started m my PMR. As to what to do since I have had it, acupuncture has helped my fatigue (but when I was on below 7mg) And Bach flower remedies have helped my mood.
I also had a stressful job and looked after my mum who had frontal lobe dementia for the last 7 years of her life. I often felt like I had low level flu. My PMR came on dramatically on a long haul flight( visiting my daughter in Australia) where I became very sick and could hardly walk. I was finally diagnosed when I returned to the U.K. The diagnostic clincher was the miraculous effect of Prednisalone it took only two days to relieve the symptoms. Naturally that was the beginning of the story rather than the end. I have been immensely helped and informed every step of the way by the dedicated people on here like PMRPro and DorsetLady, who don’t mind repeating sound advice over and over again and who keep abreast of all the latest research. The charity has raised the profile of these diseases and I feel that being confronted by medical ignorance or dismissal has become much rarer - even over the 4 years ( ish) that I have been a member.
The key things that helped me were acceptance of the disease and its limitations upon my life, pacing my activities, avoiding vexatious people and stressful situations, a good low carb, low sugar diet. Using a slow taper programme for reducing Prednisalone. Planning nice distractions carefully, like holidays and most of all the constant reassurance of this remarkably supportive website.
Of course, there is stress that we can't predict or avoid, but certainly in my case, I have looked at what I was doing and managing/not managing at the time I got PMR. I thought I was doing really well- I was a counsellor and knew all about self-care and when my husband got made redundant, I thought I was coping very well! The PMR came in the same week!
It took quite a few years for me to realise and acknowledge that there was a link.
So, since then, I have retired, realising that listening to others' distress probably wasn't doing me any good! I had never considered doing anything other than helping others as this was what I was brought up to do, so this was a big turnaround. I am also now actively working on caring for myself and also find this quite hard as it is so far from my previous experience!I have been seeing a sound therapist and life coach ( yes I thought this might be a bit weird too!)and finding the whole experience life changing. ( If anyone wants to know about sound therapy do PM me)The work is ongoing...
In the meantime, both my parents developed dementia, my sister stopped talking to me without any explanation, and I developed severe OA in both knees, and both hips, which the NHS would not operate on a I was "too risky" . It was quite a turning point when I decided that I was worth spending the money on to get my life back. ( 3 ops down, one more to go)
We all have our own path to tread, but whilst I would much rather not have PMR and OA, I have learnt a lot and developed a lot on the way.
Isn't it amazing how we think we are controlling our stress but it still comes up and bites is. Your stressful family situation sounds very similar to mine 4 years ago, when I came down with PMR. Sorry to hear you've had such a long road.
Yes for many of us I believe it was stress, in one form or another that precipitated the PMR or GCA or both!!
I had a very stressful job and then decided at quite a late stage in life to do a counselling degree. None of this helped!
I too like others believe that acceptance of the condition is the main turning point. Not just “ giving up” but working through problems and looking after ourselves, pacing , eating well, managing situations a bit differently.
This journey of mine has gone on for much longer than I originally thought it would. I have changed a lot along the way- personally I feel for the better.
Hi Anne, sorry you got PMR but I'm glad you found this forum, you will learn a lot and get a lot of support. I couldn't have survived this disorder without the knowledge on this forum. It's a long road, 3-4 years if you're one of the lucky ones but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I strongly believe mine was caused by stress. My father died and my family fell apart. I didn't realize at the time that he was the glue that held us together. Within 4 months I came down with PMR. I was 53 and in the best shape of my life. Had never been sick, never taken meds, had lost weight, walked 5 miles a day and had a lot of things on my list to do. That's one of the things I see as a pattern on this forum a lot of us were "go getters". PMR really slowed me down. Today, I have a new outlook on life. I do not allow stress in my life. What will be, will be, why worry. If the house is a mess, so be it. PMR taught me that I needed to slow down and smell the roses and really take care of myself. After 3 years and 8 months I can finally say I'm back to about 80% of what I used to do with minimal pain and exhaustion. I took Pred and I also tried physical therapy 3 times in the last 3 years. It really helped. I also tried acupuncture and found that it helped with the exhaustion from reducing the Pred. I'm on 4 mg now, trying to reduce to 3.5. The anti-inflammatory diet helped me lose weight but didn't help with the pain nor did turmeric. Try anything, you never know how it will help you, we are all different, but don't give up on Pred, it's the only thing that will keep you pain free. So, yes, I believe stress has a lot to do with PMR. Good luck and I wish you a short journey.
Work was published a couple of years ago suggesting a/i disease is linked to an increased risk of dementia - she said cheerfully! And some forms of dementia may be secondary to an a/i disorder - treat that and the dementia improves.
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