Polymyalgia rheumatica
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Editors-in-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D.; Associate Editor-In-Chief: Ujjwal Rastogi, MBBS [1]
Overview
Myalgia means pain and Rheumatica refers to muscles, joints, or fibrous tissue. Polymyalgia rheumatica is an inflammatory condition causing pain and stiffness in shoulder, neck and hips.
What are the symptoms of Polymyalgia rheumatica?
The patient can complain of
- Pain and stiffness in the proximal muscles that usually occurs on both sides and worse in the morning
- Stiffness after prolong activity i.e. Gel phenomenon
- Fever (low grade)
- Weight loss
- Depression
- Fatigue
- No weakness
It may coexist with another inflammatory disorder called giant cell arteritis, which can cause headaches, visual impairment, jaw pain and other symptoms.
What causes Polymyalgia rheumatica?, Who is at risk?
The cause of Polymyalgia rheumatica remains unknown. The symptoms are due to the activity of inflammatory cells and proteins that are normally a part of body's disease-fighting immune system.
However sometimes it can occur together with Giant Cell arteritis .
It often occurs in people who are 50 years or older. Women are about two times more likely to develop the disorder.
Treatment options
The physician may decide to do the following:
- Erythrocyte sedimentation rate greater than 50 mm/h
- Normochromic normocytic anemia in more than half of the pages.
- Rheumatoid factor which should be negative
- Muscle biopsy which should be negative
The mainstream of therapy are corticosteroids which require careful monitoring. There is no emergency therapy for it.
Where to find medical care for polymyalgia rheumatica?
Directions to Hospitals Treating polymyalgia rheumatica
What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)
The average length of disease is 3 years and exacerbations may occur if steroids are tapered too rapidly. Relapse is common.
Possible complications
Symptoms of polymyalgia rheumatica can affect a person's ability to perform his/her day-to-day activities like 1) Standing up from a chair or getting out of a car, getting out of bed 2) Bathing, combing your hair. 3) Getting dressed or putting on a coat Corticosteroid therapy can have its own complication also disease can exacerbation of disease with tapering of corticosteroids.
Sources
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/polymyalgiarheumatica.html