Is prednisone working? only mild relief after 3 weeks (15, 12.5 and

Hi Cyn @cyninaustria, Each of us diagnosed with PMR are a little different but for me the prednisone got rid of the pain within a few hours of taking my morning dose when I started at 20mg. You are not alone wondering if you may have been misdiagnosed. There are quite a few conditions that have symptoms that mimic PMR.
-- Diseases that mimic polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR):
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/diseases-that-mimic-polymyalgia-rheumatica
One thing my rheumatologist recommended when I was first diagnosed with PMR was to keep a daily log of my pain level and symptoms when I woke up in the morning along with my dose of prednisone for that day. Do you keep a daily log of your pain level and symptoms?

Hi Cyn @cyninaustria
Your doctor is following an unusual protocol in the way he is using prednisone. I think it’s most common for doctors to start their patients on around 20 mg of prednisone for a couple of weeks to a month, and reduce from there. If symptoms respond to steroids right away, (often within hours) then that is evidence of a correct diagnosis. I was started on 10 mg of prednisone and my symptoms resolved within about eight hours. I felt pretty much back to normal. Based on most other people’s experiences, it seems like your doctor started you at an excessively high dose, but then reduced way too fast. If a higher dose (20, 15?) resolved your symptoms, you should ask to go back up to that dose and then reduce much more slowly. If you never did experience complete or nearly complete relief of your symptoms (it feels like magic for most of us; it’s that dramatic!) then you may have something else going on, as John mentioned.

yes, I was started on 20 for 2 weeks, 15 for 2 weeks, 10 for 4 weeks and then 1mg reduction every 4 weeks. I had relief within hours in the beginning. Most reductions caused a little creakiness for a couple of days and then at 4-5 mg had more difficulty and had to play around with the tapering

My experience with Prednisone is that it works quite quickly - in hours or at most a day or two. The pain relief is dramatic, with increasing effectiveness at higher doses, but it is not absolute. I initially had severe pain that felt like multiple broken bones, and 20 mg/day of Prednisone brought the pain down quickly to something between 2 and 4 on a scale of 10. This relief faded over a period of weeks as my adrenals shut down (they sensed that my cortisol levels were adequate) and my dosage had to be increased. The ER doctors upped it to 60 mg/day. Later, while tapering off Prednisone over a 6 month period, I was told that, if the pain flared up, to increase the dose to the last effective level. At this point, I was also self-injecting Actemra, and never had a flare. Hope this helps.

I was "tentatively" diagnosed with PMR 3 months ago. Some of my labs fit the profile but I don't have any hip pain, just upper arms, knees and lower legs. At night the soles of my feet ache. Prednisone ( 10mg) seemed to work initially but then as I started to wean off to 5mg over 2 months, the pain returned. Dr. raised steroid dose to 15mg for 1 week , had minimal pain response. Now weaning off slowly and have constant pain in the morning til ~ noon.
Was told what I have will not go away. Am wondering if there are any suggestions from this group?