This is a typical pattern although I woke up at 3 a.m. with pain. Waking up with pain is a bad omen for the beginning of any day. If the pain wakes you up at 6 a.m. then that is the time you should take your Prednisone dose. Why wait until 8 a.m.?

Prednisone does take an hour or two to be absorbed in the stomach. Prednisone is then converted to prednisolone, its active form, in the liver before it gets into the blood stream.

Taking a small prednisone dose in the evening may help with the morning pain and stiffness. No need to take an additional dose than what is prescribed. I took about 1/3 of my total Prednisone dose in the evening before going to bed and 2/3 of my total dose in the morning. I didn't wake up with any pain in the morning when I split my dose that way.

There are some valid reasons why doctors say to take the entire dose in the morning. My doctor had the opinion that whatever worked best for me was what I should do. As long as I didn't randomly increase my total dose, my rheumatologist was okay with splitting my dose.