Lots of supplements- but a good multivitamin 2x/day is a good start (NOT from a drug store go to a health food store) a 2:1 mag/cal - 500mg mag/500mg calcium combo is great at helping the muscles relax, and take them 6hrs apart. It takes your body 6hrs to metabolize these nutrients; more is not better.
Hope this helps.
Ray Schilling, Md (Kelowna, Bc, Canada) on 12/23/2013:
7-keto DHEA is supporting the immune system. It is often very low in patients with autoimmune diseases including polymyalgia rheumatica. Your doctor could order DHEAS, which is the storage form of DHEA circulating in the blood. If it is low, I agree that 7-keto DHEA is the one to take, start with 25 mg and slowly increase to not more than 100 mg once per day depending on your symptoms. Also take higher doses of omega-3 fatty acids (molecularly distilled or pharmaceutical grade, the more expensive one, has 400 mg of EPA and 200 mg of DHA in one capsule). Take 3 capsules in the morning and three at night. Add to this 500 mg of curcumin per day. I am also very suspicious of an underlying wheat allergy (gliadin and gluten), which likely means you should refrain from sugar and wheat products. Read this blog I wrote:
http://www.askdrray.com/our-endangered-food/
Polymyalgia is another one of the inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Conventional medicine (before 2008 I belonged to that group) does not want to go there, but has not better answers than corticosteroids or methotrexate, both very strong and dangerous substances. Now I am retired and I can freely talk my mind; I am now interested in non-toxic methods of treatment as it is used by anti-aging medicine. One caveat: 10 to 15 % of patient with polymyalgia rheumatica develop giant cell arteritis in the temporal artery, which can lead to blindness. Your primary care physician can discuss this with you further.
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Jane (Burdenham, Somerset, Uk) on 06/16/2013:
Hi to all, I have been researching PMR as I think my mum will be diagnosed after her blood tests. I am an autoimmune sufferer with B12 deficiency and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. I have been using 7 keto DHEA for a few years now though in the beginning I used straight DHEA. Yesterday I researched medical papers on the use of either of these as a treatment for PMR, as far back as 2000 I found that this had been researched with positive results. DHEA is a mother hormone for oestrogen and testosterone and 7 keto is a sulphate of DHEA which doesn't convert into either of these hormones, these are our bodies natural steroids. As you see PMR mostly in older people especially women or women who are peri-menopausal or post menopausal, then it is a logical asumption that the loss of hormones have an involvment in PMR. Men do not suffer to the same extent hormonally as women do which would explain why the majority of people who suffer are women. I use 7 keto for two reasons one is that it boosts T3 thyroid conversion two it is a very powerful immune support. There is a lot on the net re both of these products, it is worth thinking about. I wish you all well Jane x
