Good morning everyone

[mikecity]

Hi,

    Happy Tuesday!!!!!!!!  How’s it going?  Are you having a good week?  Yesterday I went to the AA meeting.  There were pretty many people there.  

     How is the new life going?  I know how difficult the new life is at first!!  It’s like your mind freaks out you are no longer having a cigarette all through the day!!  The good news is it gets use to it!!  As your mind accepts not smoking, you begin to enjoy your quit!!  Namaste  

        N. O. P. E. 

[LanaKay]

I am getting close to three years without a cigarette. I have Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) that presented itself shortly after I quit. Is anyone else on this site with PMR?

[DonnaMarie]

Did this have anything to do with smoking or quitting smoking? Just wondering if they're related somehow. Or is it something that might have come along anyway? Here's hoping you're doing well!

Donna

Day 65

[LanaKay]

I’m really not sure. The doctors believe that stress can bring this on. Thank heaven it does go into remission after a time and it isn’t fatal!  

[elvan]

LanaKay‌ I do not have PMR but I do have RA and I think the joint pain and stiffness are very similar.  I have had this for many year and have been steroid dependent as a result of that.   I really don't know anything about it, although, it sounds like it is related...it is not considered to be an inflammatory condition...just painful.  I have a good friend with fibromyalgia which I was also diagnosed with early in my rheumatoid journey.  The biggest difference between RA and fibro is that the pain is in the muscles, BETWEEN the joints and it responds really well to exercise.  I think RA responds well to exercise too, I try to work out regularly so my joints don't get any stiffer than they already are.

Three years is wonderful.  

Ellen

[LanaKay]

PMR is kind of like RA except it is in the muscles not the joints. It is an autoimmune disease. The only treatment really is prednisone to keep the inflammation in check. It can last 5.9 years or sometimes longer. Between quitting smoking and the prednisone I have gained a lot of weight. I’m not happy about that. 

[LanaKay]

PMR is an autoimmune disease like RA. It attacks the muscles instead of the joints. Prednisone is the only drug that works. Usually the starting dose is 15-20 mg then beginning a slow taper. I am down to 7 mg now. I was diagnosed September of 2017 but I think I had it quite a bit longer and just thought it was old age. Finally I couldn’t raise my arms up high enough to cut a piece of meat on my plate. I was then diagnosed. I’ve gained a ton of weight between quitting the cigarettes and the prednisone. I m plugging along though. Some days are better than others.

Sent from my iPhone

[CommunityAdmin]

As a reminder email notifications were turned off overnight as part of the data migration. This is just a post to alert some of those who might have missed some comments that occurred while the email notifications were turned off.

Mark
EX Community Manager

[Barbara145]

Wonderful blog Mike and so true.  Have a great day.

[anaussiemom]