In the beginning I would take prednisone. It would help for a bit but once I was weaned off the meds, the flare up would come back. It was almost like a roller coaster and made me flare ups last longer. After a few years of this happening I made the decision to stop the steroids, take pain meds and wait the flare up out. I've tried sooooo many drugs over the years but either the side effects were too much for me or the meds just didn't work at all.