Hello @dj13, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @dadcue and others. Like you, my first bout with PMR happened when I was 56. I was diagnosed by a Mayo rheumatologist after a referral from my primary care team. I was started on 20 mg prednisone also and within hours of my first dose it was like night and day as you said. I floundered some tapering down with prednisone but my rheumatologist told me I needed to listen to my body and keep a daily log of my pain on a scale of 1 to 10 along with my dosage of prednisone for the day. He told me when it came time to taper down to the next lower dose I should use my pain scale - if it was 2 or greater on my scale, then I would hold off for a week and try tapering again, or if it was greater he had me up the dosage to half of my previous taper down to see if that would provide pain relief. My first time with PMR took 3 and half years to taper off of prednisone with the last six months going back and forth between 1 mg and 1/2 mg until I could finally stop taking it and my pain was less than a 1 on my pain scale. Once I got moving in the morning the aches would generally go away.

Healthier eating and mild exercise/movement definitely plays a part in getting PMR into remission. My second time around with PMR was six years after it went into remission the first time. It only took 1 and half years the second time and I attribute the shorter time frame to eating better and exercising more than I did the first time. You might find the following discussions helpful in your PMR journey.

--- PMR Diet: Foods to eat and avoid: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/diet-and-pmr/
--- PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-dosages/

Do you keep a daily pain and dosage log?