Medical Questions » Autoimmune Diseases Questions » Question No. 108
| Question: | My horrible aches and pains have been diagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica, and although medication seems to help, the pains keep coming back. How long will I suffer? |
| Answer: | Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is a random inflammation of the muscles anywhere in the body. Women are affected five times more often than men. It is one of a number of post-viral syndromes that triggers an autoimmune response. In some people, for no known reason, a viral infection such as influenza is followed by a chronic inflammation of many muscles.
Symptoms include severe aches and pains in a group of muscles for a few days before the pain subsides, then another muscle group is attacked. The muscles are also weak and the patient is irritable, tired, unable to concentrate, and depressed. Other symptoms may include nausea, headache, arthritis and loss of appetite.
No investigation can confirm the diagnosis but blood tests indicate a generalised inflammation of the body.
Treatment involves heat, pain-killers and anti-inflammatory medications. If these are not successful, steroids can be used.
The condition may last for weeks or months, then recur after a long absence, but eventually complete recovery occurs in most patients. |
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