Polymyalgia rheumatica and temporal arteritis

DH has recently been diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica. It came on quickly as debilitating pain in his pelvis and shoulders. He was prescribed a steroid (prednisolone) which confirmed the diagnosis by removing the pain very quickly.

Prior to this he had blood tests which didn't show the expected markers. I read somewhere this can happen in about 20% of cases.

I hope you will receive a diagnosis and treatment very soon.

If temporal arteritis is the same as giant cell arteritis, it’s essential to be diagnosed and treated quickly, so it’s good that you are under investigation.
I expect you have been warned about symptoms to look out for, like a sudden extremely severe headache around the temples as that could be an emergency.

I only know this because a neighbour was diagnosed with this a few months ago and was telling us about the symptoms once he was discharged.

I have had a lot of pain for some weeks now (worse than my normal background pain) and I went to the optician because of painful eyes - she has written to GP who wants to see me to check this all out. I do have quite a lot of the relevant symptoms including having lost about 1.75 stone in the last year for no apparent reason. And I am utterly wiped out and barely functioning some days. Anyway I will ring for an appointment on Tuesday. Whatever it is it needs sorting!

Nell82 - it is good to hear that your OH was quickly treated.

I had temporal arteritis ten years ago. It was very painful and it also affected ny eyesight. My G.P took ages to diagnose thr condition so I was put on a high dose of Prednisolone . Within a couple of weeks I ended up with Hamster cheeks and a raging hunger! Had to come down very gradually through the dose. Three years later I got Polymyalgia. It took a year to get rid of it. Then 2 years ago Poly came calling again, more Prednisolone. You have my sympathy if this is what your diagnosis is.

Kupari45 - I am sorry to hear you went through all this. I hope that it will soon all be behind you.