I’ve just been diagnosed with PMR after 3 weeks of severe pain in shoulders, arm, wrists, hips & thighs. Taking 15mg of Prednisolone & will be starting Cali-D & Alendronic in a few days.
My question is and no doctor has told me yes or no is this anyway connected to my bout of gallstones and acute pancreatitis I had in early February. On 13th February 2024 I had my Gall bladder removed so dealt with 3 weeks of diarrhoea and eating a low fat diet. Lost about 11lb in weight but eating better now. PMR has knocked me sideways and came out of the blue.
Has anyway got PMR after having a surgical procedure or is this just a coincidence??
Ive just turned 60 ( was in hospital on my birthday 2 days before Cholecystectomy)
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It is natural to want to know why one develops PMR/GCA, but there is no easy answer. After diagnosis people usually recount events that they attribute to it and common themes are infection, illness generally, surgery, vaccines, shock, grief, acute or chronic stress. Perhaps your run up to the surgery had you in pain or distress and perhaps there have been other stresses too. Perhaps you had grumbling inflammation and your body went into overdrive and started attacking itself. Your doctors can guess too but there won’t be a definitive answer.
Thank you for that yes it does makes sense, having gallstones was very painful. I’m sure my body went into overdrive with inflammation from Pancreatitis & inflamed liver. I’m learning more every day.
PMR is due to a malfunction of the immune system and is thought to be the result of an accumulation of the effect of stresses on the immune system throughout life. Many things stress the immune system - it isn't just about stopping us getting infections, it does an awful lot of other things as well - and include illness, surgery, environmental and chemical influences, mental and physical trauma and a host of other events. Eventually one thing becomes too much and the immune system has a meltdown and goes haywire, unable to recognise your body as self and so it turns on various tissues and causes damage and inflammation. The same applies to all autoimmune disease - which tissues are damaged and how defines the diagnosis you end up with.
Maybe your final event was the operation - if it hadn't happened, then something else would come along and flick the switch.
Thank you for your reply I can relate to much of what you said, I have been an unpaid carer for the last 8 years for my husband who suffered and still does from mental health. Although I always thought I had been coping well I think I’ve been just existing. My body has decided enough is enough so it’s time to start looking after myself. My husband lives in his bed and has no empathy for anyone, I still have plenty of living to do & wont let this PMR hold me back.
Your words are making things clearer so thank you.
I was progressing very well in cutting back my prednisone last fall and was down to 2.5 mg. I went and had a routine colonoscopy and within a few days I relapsed with PMR. I went to the rheumatologist and he was very upset with the Dr. who did the colonoscopy. He said that anything that can upset your biome in the digestion system can upset your immune system and cause a relapse. He said there were preventive measures that I should have been advised to do before the procedure and that the gastro Dr should have known. I am disappointed as I am now back to tapering down again. So I would think that the gallbladder procedure could have tripped up your immune system, which was just waiting for the opportunity to go berserk.
A note about the Alendronic Acid. You may not need it so many of us have requested a Dexa Scan to make sure. It’s one of the tick box drugs that are on the list but often it’s not necessary.
Your story is very like mine. I was diagnosed with PMR about a month after I had surgery to repair a hernia. My op took place in 2020 during Covid. I had 5 weeks of self isolation and nobody with me in hospital - all stressful to say the least.
I had my gallbladder out in January 2018, and was diagnosed with PMR in the September of that year. Symptoms began late August. Could be total coincidence. When I went for my results from the gallbladder surgery, they reported chronic inflammation. Thankfully nothing else there to report.....I'd had a rather large polyp hence the surgery, and it caused some worry on my part. But then when PMR struck I remembered about the chronic inflammation in my gallbladder and did wonder if that had played a part.
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