This site is a very reliable and current source of information aimed at the medical community but they do also provide two levels of information for patients, Basics and Beyond the Basics, and it may be worth asking your doctor to read this and print them off for you. There are things in the articles we might dispute - but they are based on facts established in clinical studies and professional experience which is what they are prepared to take notice of.
I think they are probably something to offer to your GP if they seem a bit clueless about PMR and/or GCA in diagnosing you as they are very detailed and include many aspects of the disorders and possible alternatives suggested by atypical presentations.
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Thanks for this. I thought it was great but then clicked on beyond the basics article for patients and read it we will have to take glucocorticoids for 1 to 2 years. HA!
No - they went on strike for the day, very British and for a similar reason - Rome is threatening to mess with their pensions! So postponed to Jan 9th as long as they don't go on strike again ...
The paper on PMR makes no mention of a proportion of patients having both normal ESR and normal CRP. In fact it places huge reliance on CRP alone: "A diagnostic cut-off value for elevations of the CRP (ie, below which the diagnosis is ruled out) has not been established, but practically speaking, a normal CRP effectively excludes the diagnosis of PMR."
Are you referring to the 1.0% to 1.5% of diagnoses (mentioned in studies) that are implied to be mistaken? "As noted above, a small percentage of patients with bona fide PMR have lower ESRs at the time of diagnosis... A normal or modestly elevated ESR by itself should not deter consideration of a diagnosis of PMR in the appropriate clinical setting, but the combination of a normal ESR plus a normal CRP renders the diagnosis much less likely." Nowhere in the paper does it state that a (bona fide) diagnosis of PMR can be made when both ESR & CRP are normal.
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Seems to be not uncommon!
Physiology of GCA and PMR
PMR and GCA Research Hits the Road!
The cost of GCA & PMR..........
