Wilma Brouwer
I too was diagnosed with polymyalgia at age 75, although my doctor didn't catch it right away. He just gave me arthritis medication which caused me to lose weight. Finally he changed to prednizone and I began to improve immediately. I can't tell you the relief I felt. I have gradually reduced the dosage until I take only 5 mgm every other day. But this has taken 6 years to accomplish. The pain occasionally gets bad but a OTC pain pill takes care of it. I felt te prednizone was changing my persoality, making me have sudden outbursts of irritabiliy, so that's why I asked to have the dosage reduced. 5 mgm is a very low dose and I feel I need at least that much. I have read that with some people this disease just goes away. Maybe your mother's future is brighter than what it seems now when her condition has had more time to become stabilized.