What type of doctor diagnosed your mother? Has she seen a rheumatologist? I ask because sometimes the symptoms of PMR can be confused with rheumatoid arthritis. The frozen should is pretty common in some RA patients as well.
As far as the steroids, they usually try to wean people off of them as quickly as possible, but some people need to stay on a very low dose over a long period of time, even 2-3 years, to get relief. The symptoms can vary greatly from one person to another, so the treatment must vary some with the person.
The American College of Rheumatology http://www.rheumatology.org/practice/clinical/patients/diseases_and_conditions/polymyalgiarheumatica.asp has good information on this disease, and links to further resources as well. Please let us know if you have further questions, and good luck to you and your mum.
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Hi Nelmarie-
What type of doctor diagnosed your mother? Has she seen a rheumatologist? I ask because sometimes the symptoms of PMR can be confused with rheumatoid arthritis. The frozen should is pretty common in some RA patients as well.
As far as the steroids, they usually try to wean people off of them as quickly as possible, but some people need to stay on a very low dose over a long period of time, even 2-3 years, to get relief. The symptoms can vary greatly from one person to another, so the treatment must vary some with the person.
The American College of Rheumatology http://www.rheumatology.org/practice/clinical/patients/diseases_and_conditions/polymyalgiarheumatica.asp has good information on this disease, and links to further resources as well. Please let us know if you have further questions, and good luck to you and your mum.
April 18, 2010 - 6:42amThis Comment
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