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Central Kansas | Archie: you describe this as an autoimmune affliction. Your description of symptoms, worse early morning, shoulders and hips is very consistent with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). More common in women than men and at an older age. Standard treatment is prednisone, which will demonstrate almost instant relief. 20 mg daily for awhile with a slow taper over weeks/months time to a very low dose. I realize some people do not want to take prednisone although the deleterious effects are minimal compared to untreated PMR.
This autoimmune condition can result in temporal arteritis which is much more severe and carries the chance of optic nerve involvement if not treated. You and your spouse should do exactly what you determine to be the best course for you both, but if she has PMR (elevated C reactive protein and high red cell sedimentation rate) it would be very prudent to follow a regimen of prednisone prescribed by a physician.
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wife has autoimmune deal that is extremely painful left shoulder and arm
