This is in contrast to swimming, for example, where the water supports the weight of the body. Walking is usually the most suitable weight-bearing exercise for people with polymyalgia rheumatica.
Sitting for any length of time may cause stiffness, making activities such as driving more difficult. Stop from time to time on a long journey to stretch your shoulders, arms and legs.
Simple measures such as a hot bath or shower can help to ease pain and stiffness, either first thing in the morning or after exercise. A pint of milk a day, together with a reasonable amount of other foods that contain calcium, should be enough. The best source of vitamin D is sunlight on bare skin. These can be bought from supermarkets and health food shops. You can also discuss this with a pharmacist. There are some at risk groups who are advised to take vitamin D supplements all year round, including:.
We explain which foods are most likely to help and how to lose weight if you need to. Find out more about exercising with arthritis and what types of exercises are beneficial for certain conditions. I was 57 when I developed polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.
I was head of news and current affairs at Channel Four television and a single parent of a child of It began with a very sore neck. Then my shoulders started to ache. On a few mornings, when I woke up, I found it difficult to move my arms, though my hands moved easily. The problem would wear off quickly, and I would forget about it.
Although I was young to get the condition, I knew I had polymyalgia rheumatica, as my mother had it. I was given a blood test to check inflammation levels and was put onto steroid tablets.
My daughter was very upset and frightened. I would have to go to bed as soon as I got home. Sometimes during the day, I would get into my car in the car park and sleep. When I was put on the correct dose of steroids I felt OK, but did cut back my social life a lot. Eventually, I developed a terrible headache and my jaw became very stiff. I knew at once this was giant cell arteritis. I had to immediately take a very large dose of steroids to prevent sight loss, which is a very real risk with GCA.
For two-and-a-half years I had to take steroids and then I was moved onto methotrexate for a year. I put on weight and my face took on a moon shape.
I became tired much more easily. I found it really helpful to meet other people with the condition and swap experiences and ideas. After three-and-a-half years, the condition went away. I came off the drugs. My weight went down and my face returned to its normal shape. As head of news and current affairs, I have ultimate responsibility for Channel Four News, Dispatches, Unreported World and all other news and current affairs programming.
I generally work at least 60 hours a week commissioning programmes, watching films and dealing with a wide range of programmes. I would say that I should have taken time off work and that I had to learn to expect less of myself and to tell others I had a debilitating illness, so they should expect less of me.
Polymyalgia rheumatica PMR. It's also more common in women than men. It's estimated 1 in every 1, people in the UK develop the condition every year. A corticosteroid medicine called prednisolone is the main treatment for polymyalgia rheumatica.
It's used to help relieve the symptoms. To start with, you may be prescribed a moderate dose of prednisolone, which will be gradually reduced over time. Most people with polymyalgia rheumatica will need a course of corticosteroid treatment that lasts for 18 months to 2 years to prevent their symptoms returning.
Up to 1 in 5 people with polymyalgia rheumatica develop a more serious condition called temporal arteritis also known as giant cell arteritis , where the arteries in the head and neck become inflamed.
Yet inactivity, such as a long car ride or sitting too long in one position, may cause stiffness to return. Stiffness may be so severe that it causes any of these problems:. The cause of polymyalgia rheumatica PMR is unknown. PMR does not result from side effects of medications. The abrupt onset of symptoms suggests the possibility of an infection but, so far, none has been found. Recent research suggests that inflammation in PMR involves the shoulder and hip joints themselves, and the bursae or sacs around these joints.
So pains at the upper arms and thighs, in fact, start at the nearby shoulder and hip joints. PMR should not be confused with fibromyalgia , a poorly understood syndrome that unlike PMR has no evidence of inflammation. Polymyalgia rheumatica may be hard to diagnose. Because rheumatologists are experts in diseases of the joints, muscles and bones, they can recognize the diagnosis of PMR and expertly manage its treatment. In PMR, results of blood tests to detect inflammation are most often abnormally high.
Both tests may be very elevated in PMR but, in some patients, these tests may have normal or only slightly high results.
PMR can be hard to diagnose. Your health care providers should rule out other health problems, such as rheumatoid arthritis. If your doctor strongly suspects PMR, you will receive a trial of low-dose corticosteroids. Often, the dose is 10—15 milligrams per day of prednisone Deltasone, Orasone, etc. If PMR is present, the medicine quickly relieves stiffness.
The response to corticosteroids can be dramatic.
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