Hi, as mentioned in the title, I'm concerned that I'm literally 50 and 3 months and have been diagnosed with polymyalgia. The average age of a person with polymyalgia is 72! Are there any other 'youngsters' out there that have been diagnosed so young?
I'm concerned that the diagnosis may be incorrect. The steroids are working but they could just be blocking other underlying problems?
Don't worry lots of us are younger.I felt like you 12years ago on diagnosed at 45.Am in the middle of a major flare now
Welcome to the 'club' no-one wants to join!
There are many, many, patients who are even younger than you who have PMR. If the steroids are working it certainly sounds like PMR.
Read through as many of the posts on this forum as you can. There is always someone to 'listen'/help. Take note of EileenH's posts. What she doesn't know about PMR isn't worth knowing!
Good luck, and keep asking/posting.
Constance
Hello sastew, sorry to hear of your diagnosis. I was 52 when I was diagnosed this time 2013, although symptoms began in the September of that year. I'm one of the lucky ones, by that I mean that once I started the preds I have been pain and stiffness free, literally! I've suffered one flare, this time last year, but I am currently reducing to 6.5 from 7 using Eileen's dead slow and almost stop reducing method, so far so good.
please keep the queries, concerns, or worries coming - there's always plenty of us here to offer what advice we may have. Good luck, tina
I know someone who is 45 and has PMR, she recognised it, because her grand mother had it as well....it dosen`t have much regards for age.(in adults)...Good luck
I think I had it much earlier than my diagnosis. Used to take Diclofenac to keep going, and then flared at 68 when the Doc took me off the anti inflamatories.
I'm 47 and was diagnosed in Sept 2015. I'm currently on 17mg. Started at 20mg and got down to 15mg, but had to go to 17mg 2 weeks ago. My mom was diagnosed at 56. Quite a journey so far but the pred is helping. Appt with rheumy next week because of my age..atypical. This forum is a true lifesaver!!
Kelly in CA
As someone said to me (problems started 40 diagnosed 45)72 may be the average but just as some are older there has to be those younger to correlate the distribution graphsDoctors just seem to forget this although as time passes they are improving
I was 51 when the first symptoms of PMR started to appear - mine crept up very slowly. There are quite a few people on the forums in their 50s, increasing numbers in the 40s - and in the literature the youngest person was a 24 year old male, google it to read the paper!
Yes, according to the literature the "average" age is 72 - but I believe that that is strongly influenced by the fact they aren't looking for it in patients under 50. Some doctors even say "you can't have it under 72" which is patently wrong since to have an average of 72 when very large numbers of people in their 70s and 80s have it requires a lot of people who are UNDER 72! That's how averages work. Unfortunately, many doctors aren't too strong on statistics! And the bell-shaped curve that gives us the "normal range" has 2 tiny triangles at each end - they are the outliers, the atypical people, who form about 5% at each end, 10% altogether. One in ten of us is likely not to be "typical". Now there's a thought!
I think a lot of younger people are fobbed off with suggestions of fibromyalgia (lots of common symptoms), depression (depressed mood is a sign of PMR), for women "your age" (one cause of PMR pain is deranged hormones) and a range of other get-outs, including "your bloods are fine so there can't be anything wrong". But none of them are likely to respond in a few hours to a moderate dose of pred.
Part of the rational for using just 15-20mg of pred as the starting dose is that other things may respond to higher doses - PMR is characterised by this dramatic (about 70%) improvement in symptoms within a very short time which return to the same as the original in a similar time frame.
Hi there
I wad diagnosed this September after a summer of hell. I'm 58 and we have another canadian who has just recently joined our club at 49.
Only advise is read and go slow the tortoise wins this race. Don't be in a race to reduce fast. I atarted at 20mg will start my last week of reduction to 17.5mg.
I find swimming helps the joints others say yoga, thi chi and walking.
Sorry you joined the club, what country do you live in.
Mariane Canada
I wish the "age" parameter was removed from the diagnostic toolkit for this disease. Reading this and other forums it is obvious that a lot of people, including people with a disease strongly resembling GCA, are younger than the "average", some very much younger.
I was diagnosed last fall at 58, but I think I've had little things happening related to it since I was 56. Hindsight is great for recognizing symptoms that seemed to be other things, especially since it crept up on me.
So true.
I was diagnosed shortly after turning 51 a year ago, so I was only 50 when it first started.