Jane (Burdenham, Somerset, Uk) on 06/16/2013
Replied by Seadragoness from Lakewood, Ca on 10/25/2013
Thank you for your post. I was just diagnosed with polymyalgia yesterday 10-24-13 1 day after my 51st birthday! Im not sure about the rheumatica part yet but it looks that way. They are sending me to see a specialist. I do not want to take steroids. And since I am at the menopausal stage most likely I can replace the steroids more naturally or try what you suggested I have no idea what dhea is but I will research it. I guess I have alot of researching to do. Contact me anytime. ThanksReplied by Ray Schilling, Md from 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.