PMR

It is about 12 months now that I have been suffering from a thing called PMR  or poly myalgic rheumatica ....what felt like the start of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome ( I knew about that as a good friend of mine had it and was cured by a simple operation)  very quickly spread to both arms and hands and took away all the strength I had.

Within three weeks I went from a fairly sturdy old fellah into a positive weakling.  I couldn't raise my arms to shoulder height, I couldn't put on a shirt without a major struggle,  I couldn't pick up a cup of tea at arms length,  I couldn't pull a Long-Bow,  and I couldn't squeeze the clutch lever on a MotorBike.

Basically all the things I did to keep sane after losing my beloved Lynne two years ago were taken away from me.  The doctors and Nurse practitioners I saw had no clue...I was referred to the Rheumatology dept. at Burnley to find out that their waiting list was 16 weeks!  At this point I was close to ending it all!

With the help of my Elder Daughter I went privately to see a specialist in Cheadle who, thankfully, recognised my symptoms very quickly and prescribed a course of Steroids.  Within days I was improving, however that improvement has take a long time to get anywhere near normal...define Normal?....I can now manage day to day movements,  I have put on a lot of weight thanks to the steroids and I am still nervous about taking out a motorbike, but I am improving slowly.

The reason for all this,  If you are struggling with Hand / arm movements mention PMR to your local quack and maybe you can save yourself from employing a private medical expert at very high cost.