@nowforyou so sorry to hear of the pain you’re enduring. I relate as I don’t have a diagnosis and also struggle. I understand wanting to know what it is so you can stop throwing darts at what it may be and get the correct treatment. I lean towards PMR or Epstein Barr virus or Ehlers Danlos. There are three phases of the latter, hypermobile, pain and then stiffness. I also wonder if it’s that we have been floxxed with fluorquinolone classes of antibiotics? Such as ciprofloxacin. We may never know.
My niece has Ehlers and it is a hereditary trait and that antibiotic is like an internal bomb to people with that from what I have I have read. The sudden onset for me in 2014 is what trips me out. I went from being in the gym 5 days a week to unable to get off the couch without pain overnight. Am currently getting my medical records to try and see if I was given that med back then. I will be 53 in August if the Lord’s will. So I was 42ish when this started.

Then again it could be from fluoride in our water or toothpaste or the twice a year fluoride treatments I added at the dentist office not knowing it was a neurotoxin? As frustrating as it is we may never know and it may just be a matter of finding what helps with the pain.

I currently take 6000 mg moringa, an aleve one or twice a week, and stretch really good before getting out of bed and try to stay hydrated. Next week I am trying biomagnestism pairing. Yes, I am desperate. I’ve done the massage, acupuncture, PT, trigger point, hot and cold therapy, psychotherapy, cbd, thc, and a slough of supplements, various exercises, diets, prayer and meditation, you name it. This may just be life for me. Prednisone helps immensely but like you am leery; have only taken a couple one week rounds of it. Don’t want it long term.

Good luck to you! 🤗 hang in there.