Thanks for sharing your husband's story. Unfortunately it's a tale I've heard far too many times over my years of reading and learning from this site and HealthUnlocked's site. It's my own opinion (and others will disagree) that many doctors and rheumys focus on curing patients quickly, versus controlling something like PMR and GCA over a longer period of time. One doesn't cure our demon quickly - we keep him under control until he hopefully fades away. My first rheumy said I'd be cured in 6-12 months. After starting at 20 mg and 1 huge flare later I was a year into treatment and taking 30mg. Rheumy #2 said it would take 2 years and proceeded to reduce my dose too quickly until I blew up again at 12.5 mg and 15 mg. At this point I discovered the HealthUnlocked site and learned to be my own advocate besides learning so much from others in this situation. Rheumy #3 was determined to prove I had rheumatoid arthritis and after 9 months of fighting with him, we parted ways. Rheumy #4 was the best one and got me a long ways over years before he retired. Rheumy #5 was around about 1 year and moved. Currently my health system in rural northern Minnesota doesn't have a rheumy but I'm okay with that - He stocked me up with prednisone prescriptions before he moved..lol. Now I'm hopeful I won't need any pred in the future but won't hesitate if I feel the demon coming back. My timeline is long at 8 years but that is partially due to my continuing to work a full time job throughout. I didn't do myself any favors - a tough balancing act. There are many good doctors and rheumies but the ones that are only looking at fast cures or are working from outdated studies can and do cause more problems for us if we don't fight back like you have. I applaud you.

When I was a young boy living in farm country in the 50's & 60's I can recall farmers who suddenly weren't able to handle working the farm anymore and definitely recall a guy who suddenly lost his vision. Makes me wonder if they had PMR and/or GCA.