Covid

[Birdlife]

In early December I could only roll out of bed and not lift my arms in the morning. I would be waking up four or give times a night because of pain in one or both my arms. When standing up my first hour in the morning, it was like my legs just did not want any part of my day to day activities and my hips felt painful. I have to use my fingers to sort of spider crawl my arm up to some shelves to get things as it feels less painful. I have many other symptoms of PMR and this has been going on for a few weeks. FAR worse that first week, though with pain killers in place it has not gone away, but feels more managed. So while I do not have a formal diagnosis at this point, I booked an appointment at the Doctors to see if PMR was the cause.

Okay. So the day before Christmas Eve (23rd), I got Covid, and steadily my symptoms of PMR seem to ease and nearly disappear and I felt great again. Also, the Covid did not feel too bad and seem to go quick and honestly, I thought, "Oh maybe it was a trapped nerve in my back after all" or something. Anyway, the covid has cleared completely (in a few days), and now all the symptoms are back I can't lift my arms properly again without a lot of focus and pain, I'm all locked up after sitting for a short time as the pain is back in my hips and slightly in my neck. Anyone know why that would be? I was all for cancelling my Doctors appointment and I'm thinking I should continue with seeing the Doctor.

Any thoughts? Hope this makes sense because I am starting to feel I felt better WITH covid! Bonkers.

[Bcol]

Perhaps your immune system put all it's resources into an all out attack on Covid which reduced/removed it's ability to do what it was doing before. Now it's succeeded in getting Covid under control it's able to resume it's previous attack. Think you definitely need the doctors appointment for a diagnosis.

[Abcd123455]

completely agree with Bicol, see GP and hope you get some answers soon.

[Kendrew]

Hi Birdlife,

I'm not sure what actually is going on but I am sure it would be unwise to not get your symptoms checked out by a medical professional.

Your symptoms may have been a 'quirk' (and now, an after effect) of covid, but they do sound much more like PMR.

If so, no amount of pain killers will resolve the pain and stiffness. Unfortunately, only steroids will do that, and you obviously need a specialist to sort that out for you.

Wishing you all the best.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

As Bcol has suggested, body working on its own distraction therapy maybe. 😊.

But why it happened matters not, you do still need doctor’s appointment.

[scrambledegg]

I often find if my immune system has something else to work on my PMR symptoms reduce.. but it doesn’t last long. I really think you should continue with your doctor’ s appointment.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Some people do notice that if they have some infection or other going on their PMR feels better - and it is possibly that the immune system is engaged in fighting the infection so is distrated from attacking body tissues in error. It isn't a cure though - it almost always goes back to the original status!

[Birdlife in reply to PMRpro]

Yeah. This morning all is the same. Can't lift my arms high enough to get a coffee cup from the cupboard. Last year I walked the Camino in Spain, around 180 miles over the space of 10 days, played golf each weekend, went to watch live football with friends. I felt closer to 45, this morning trying to get out of bed, I feel closer to 95. While I had noticed some discomfort over the last three months or so, this more extreme pain has happened in WEEKS (apologies to anyone 95 still running marathons by the way!), very strange stuff.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Birdlife]

core.ac.uk/download/pdf/302...

There is even a paper - "I suddenly felt I'd aged" by Helen Twohig.

And for some it literally appears overnight.

[Oh-my]

I tested positive for Covid today and this the best morning yet. Almost no PMR symptoms

[Birdlife in reply to Oh-my]

That's exactly it. I never thought I would say getting covid for Christmas was a blessing, but at least I got to enjoy two or three days feeling pretty okay. Good luck

[Birdlife]

Thanks to @Everyone that responded. I am certainly still seeing my GP. I guess I was saying that I thought I felt a bit of a fraud about it because it seemed to go. However, this morning and from around 3am to 6am, it was all as it was. My shoulders were so painful and I had to sort of lift my arm over to roll over in bed so was waking up everyone 30 minutes or so. With that said, my lower back and hip pain is not as bad as it was and I've now put my cups and stuff on a lower shelf temporarily. I will keep reading these boards for tips and tricks 😀👍

[Stills]

interesting replies about your body fighting off covid and forgetting to torture you with PMR.

I don’t have PMR but a chronic AI rheumatoid condition close to Lupus and PMR in some symptoms, for me at least.

Anyway long story short, having cancer tests and all sorts this year with diagnosis pending and it’s interesting that my usual daily gripes have not worsened with this new malaise and I agree with this theory that the body turns it’s attention where needed.

Hope you get some answers and wishing you better days.

[Birdlife in reply to Stills]

Thanks and a wish for better days is returned in kind. I hope all your diagnosis challenges return positive results for you. This site has been very informative and it is good to know so many seem well informed and have managed to turn it around.

[PEC2]

Birdlife, thanks to your story I no longer feel bonkers as you say. I developed covid before xmas. I have had pmr for 4 years and down to 3 mg prednisone. I was so worried I would flare with covid but did not feel a single symptom. It's as if it magically disappeared. I then developed rebound covid. Still no pmr. But as the covid resolves, my symptoms reappear. It was so great while it lasted as far as pmr symptoms. So odd though.