Have you talked to the surgeon yet? If the Mayo rheumatologist said taking 5 mg would be fine, do you have reason to believe you’d have to take less than 5 mg?

I think your doctors will work something out.

One thing about medical procedures is that the person doing the procedure needs to be comfortable too. You wouldn't want anyone doing surgery on you if they weren't comfortable doing the surgery.

I feel for you. I faced the same predicament when a spine surgeon was "reluctant" to do a lumbar fusion. The surgeon said surgery was urgent but said my prednisone use could cause serious complications. The radicular leg pain was so severe, I would have signed any surgical consent form --- even leg amputation.

Fortunately, the delay was such that alternatives were tried. I took the matter into my own hands out of desperation. I took a big dose of prednisone which probably wasn't the best thing to do. I was honest about it and told my rheumatologist. She was the one who suggested a better alternative.

Five years later, the lumbar fusion is still pending. I am now happy that the surgeon was reluctant. The spine surgeon still says surgery is necessary but now I'm reluctant. The surgeon is willing to do surgery because I'm off prednisone. The surgeon doesn't pressure me to do surgery and is willing to wait until I'm ready.

I sincerely hope you get some pain relief soon. A steroid injection into my spine was what my rheumatologist suggested. I had reasonable pain relief but I still have severe spinal stenosis.

Sometimes I think PMR exacerbates other problems when there is chronic "systemic inflammation." I think the inflammation goes out and finds things to inflame whether the inflammation is needed or not. Sometimes localized steroids work better than systemic oral prednisone.