Hello! I've been gaining so much information and insight from this group and I'm so grateful. I haven't posted much and I'll try to keep this from being too long. I'd like to know if anyone has been able to get off steroids without needing biologics or other prescriptions in less than a year.

My nightmare started overnight in November 2023 with debilitating pain and stiffness. My GP suspected PMR and prescribed 20MG of prednisone. It helped for a couple days, then I got worse so assumption was it couldn't be PMR. Saw a Rheumatologist 12/15/23. He said I was likely "prednisone resistant", he diagnosed PMR, and started me on 8MG of Medrol. My labs (ESR and CRP) were never very high, even when I could barely walk. The 8MG Medrol helped for 2 days and then I was right back to debilitating pain and stiffness. My dose was increased to 48MG and I tapered every 2 days until I got to 8MG. Rheumy wanted me on 4MG after 2 months if possible and said that I would need it for a minimum of a year, probably longer. For the most part, I was doing pretty well on 8MG and started to taper in mid Feb. Unsuccessfully tapered from 8mg to 6mg. Went back up to 8mg, then reduced to 7,6,5 each week. I've been on 4MG for 5 days now - Woohoo!

I had my follow up with my rheumy yesterday and asked if I could continue to taper and see if I could get completely off the steroids in the next month or two. He said it's okay for me to try but, if successful, he would assume that I didn't have PMR since most patients need treatment for 3-4 years. Based on reading everyone's stories in this group, I'm 99.9% certain I have PMR. Really curious if anyone believes it's possible to have PMR and NOT need steroids or biologics long term.

I've spent the better part of every day doing/trying so many things to get my life back. Some things I don't believe helped much beyond the service itself (sauna, lymphatic drainage and massages). Other things may have/seem to have helped a lot. Those include Aqua/Hydro Therapy which led to chair pilates, longer walks, indoor biking and now light weight training. I also went to a functional medical clinic and had extensive testing done. It has been crazy expensive but I'd heard so many great success stories, that I decided to make it work.
Among other things, I was found to have a high need for antioxidants and inflammation support. I started taking a crazy amount of supplements and hormones about 6 weeks ago. My next round of testing will be in June to recheck. It will be interesting to compare the new results and to see where my PMR symptoms and steroids are. I'll definitely report back!