Temporal Arthritis

How to Differentiate Polymyalgia Rheumatica From Temporal …

There is a lot of confusion about Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) and its relative similarities with Giant Cell Arteritis and Fibromyalgia. So that you can reference for yourself I have quickly profiled these other diseases in the following paragraphs.

What is Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)?
Also known as Temporal Arteritis or Cranial Arteritis, Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) is a type of Vasculitis, a disorder that results in swelling of arteries particularly in the head. Often it is strongly felt in the temporal arteries, which are located on the temples on each side of the head. hence the true name …Temporal Arteritis.

Other locations that can be affected are the neck and the arms, which is why it is commonly associated with PMR, despite the fact that either one of these diseases generally (but not completely) exists in the absence of the other. The arterial swelling (as opposed to blood cell swelling as in PMR)causes reduced blood flow due to narrowing of the arteries. Early treatment is critical for good recovery, and unlike PMR, GCA rarely recurs during or after treatment. Its is still not clear why there is this puzzling relationship between PMR and GCA, other than they tend not to be present at the same time, or when the other ceases.

But it is true that ..

at least 15 % of people with PMR will also get GCA, and it is important to monitor your PMR symptoms for the changes, particularly for the temple pain.
It is usual for this to occur near the end of the PMR cycle.
and nearly 50% of people who have GCA are likely to get PMR.

Although a doctor is likely to do this anyway, be sure that your doctor checked for the presence of both diseases. With proper and prompt treatment GCA is not threatening. Untreated, however, GCA can lead to serious complications including permanent vision loss and stroke. Patients must learn to recognize the signs of GCA, because they can develop even after the symptoms of PMR disappear.

Again be vigilant and report ‘any’ unusual symptoms while you have PMR, and more specifically after PMR has gone.

What is Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia is more commonly identified by the patients inability to absorb contact without pain. Even the slightest human touch can be extremely painful in severe cases and this is an ailment referred to as Allodynia. This is the primary differentiator from PMR, although there are other ones of lesser degree.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia include severe fatigue, needle-like tingling of the skin, muscle aches, prolonged muscle spasms, weakness in the limbs, nerve pain, functional bowel disturbances, and chronic sleep disturbances. The sleep disturbances are usually due to fluctuations in the frequency waves in the brain, where the patient will toggle dramatically from delta(deep sleep) to alpha(light sleep or near awake) and back. Long slow-wave sleep is severely reduced resulting in sleep deprivation, which gives rise to its own problems.

With Fibromyalgia being an all over musculoskeletal disease, its diagnosis is considered a controversial with some authors contending that it is not a disease but a disorder. Due to the lack of abnormalities on physical examination, it often requires laboratory tests or medical imaging studies to confirm the diagnosis. And many contend that it is a neuropsychiatric condition, relying on recent research that reveals abnormalities within the central nervous system affecting brain regions that may be linked both to clinical symptoms and research phenomena.

And because Fibromyalgia is known to predominantly affect people younger than 50, it is clearly considered to be quite different from PMR.

Author: Sarah Haynes

Sarah Haynes is leading the charge to alleviate the suffering caused by Polymyalgia Rheumatica. With an unknown cure and an unknown cause, it is high time that the medical world got stuck in to discover solutions to both cure and cause, as it becomes known worldwide to be more prevalent in elderly people than Rheumatoid Arthritis.
http://www.polymyalgiarheumatica.simple-secrets.net

Sarah Haynes

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