“I will be 76 in April (at my age every month matters) and have been a lifelong cyclist with a decade or so missing in my 30/40s. I have had polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) since age 70 and have been on steroids (prednisolone) throughout.
In 2007 I had just returned from a holiday in Menorca and on the way back I started to experience some really bad pains in my back. Having had back trouble for some considerable time, I naturally thought this was the problem.
Since 1995 I have been coping with osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia but in May 2009 strange things were happening to my body. I couldn’t get warm despite being wrapped in jumpers and blankets.
I was on a round trip, twelve- day cruise from Bergen up to Kirkenes, in the north of Norway, then back down to Bergen. The scenery was spectacular…towering mountains, rushing waterfalls, small, neat wooden painted houses and villages perched in lonely locations…. beautiful towns with thriving modern communities rich in history and culture. This was the Norway I knew and loved.
In early 2008 I was a fairly fit specimen for my age, male and just turned 61. I had one or two little complaints but nothing too serious and they didn’t stop me using my mountain bike in the hilly forests around where I live.
Over time, I had developed minor stomach problems due to excess acid and a visit to my GP was required. He prescribed the modern anti-acid remedy, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and that solved the stomach problem after a short course. My stomach problem reoccurred, my fault, and I got another supply of PPI which again fixed the acid problem but I began to have increasing pains in my major muscle groups while taking the PPI.