I'm another person that worked up to a starting dose of 40 mg after being diagnosed with PMR. My rheumatologist diagnosed me and she recommended starting at 25 mg but instructed me to "find a stable dose that worked." I worked my dose up to 40 mg. I didn't want to take prednisone very long so I quickly tapered down to 30 mg.

At my next visit, I told my rheumatologist that 30 mg was working "reasonably well." My inflammation markers were checked before my rheumatology visit. My rheumatologist looked at my labs and seemed surprised. She said my inflammation markers were still high on 30 mg and told me to increase my dose back to 35 mg and start there.

The rest of that visit was about how to taper off Prednisone. I had plans to take Prednisone for a "month or two" . My rheumatologist said I needed to plan on taking Prednisone for a "year or two" and maybe longer. It turned out to be much longer... closer to 12 years.

After 12 years and many relapses, my rheumatologist said my case of PMR was "complicated." When a biologic called Actemra was started, then it only took me a year to taper off Prednisone.