Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis: A Survival Guide

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) and Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) are linked rheumatic inflammatory illnesses that affect older people - generally, people over 50. They are chronic autoimmune conditions that cause untold misery, pain and debilitation. More acutely, undiagnosed GCA can lead to blindness, which is irreversible. In the United Kingdom each year, there are an estimated 40,000 new cases of PMR and 10,000 new cases of GCA, with a significant degree of overlap, many people having both conditions together. This book is written to give people who have Polymyalgia Rheumatica, or Giant Cell Arteritis (sometimes known as temporal arteritis), and their friends and carers, information about these illnesses, drawing on recent research. It also aims to give insights into what it is like to have these conditions, and how sufferers and those close to them can help themselves in the self-management of their condition towards recovery. It is not intended to replace information provided by your doctor or clinician.The author, Dr Kate Gilbert, PhD, is a semi-retired lecturer in management development in a UK university. She has spent several years, as a PMR survivor, studying these conditions and working as a volunteer with the PMR and GCA charity, PMRGCAuk. A former Chair of Trustees, she is currently a trustee and helps to edit the charity's website pmrgcauk.com and its regular newsletter. Opinions expressed are the author's own, and she accepts full responsibility for the contents of this work.

Kate Gilbert PhD has had careers in public sector management and as a university business school lecturer and researcher. She has lived and worked in the UK, Italy and Russia. She became ill in 2007 with polymyalgia rheumatica, and through that experience became involved in the foundation of the support charity PMRGCAuk. Her journey of recovery from PMR and her growing involvement in campaigning against the sight loss caused by undiagnosed Giant Cell Arteritis became the spur to write 'Polymyalgia Rheumatica and Giant Cell Arteritis; a survival guide'. Kate spends a good deal of time with her family and is currently working on a novel set in 15th century Italy.