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Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staffPolymyalgia rheumatica symptoms may include:
- Moderate to severe aching and stiffness in the muscles in your hips, thighs, shoulders, upper arms and neck
- Fatigue
- Unintentional weight loss
- Weakness or a general feeling of being unwell
- Sometimes, a slight fever
- Anemia — low red blood cell count
Initially, you may have pain on just one side of your body, but as the disease progresses, symptoms are likely to occur on both sides.
Stiffness is usually worse in the morning or after sitting or lying down for long periods. At times, the discomfort may also be severe enough to wake you at night.
The aching and stiffness of polymyalgia rheumatica often occur suddenly, but sometimes may develop gradually.
Between 10 percent and 20 percent of people with polymyalgia rheumatica have a related condition called giant cell arteritis, which causes the arteries in your temples and sometimes in your neck and arms to become swollen and inflamed.
