I appreciate how you are feeling but am thankful they have identified EGPA which does require higher doses of prednisone than PMR to get it under control. It also takes longer to lower the pain than PMR, thus the higher doses. I hope that you will be connected with a good Rhumatologist very soon and that NUCALA will be tried to lower your eosinophils which trigger this disease. I am fortunate that this has lowered mine and I am back to living fairly normally now. I am immensely grateful for my rheumatologist who, I believe, saved my life. I have three shots, two in my thighs and one in my belly, every 4-5 weeks. They are not painful and I have not had side effects that I an aware of. I am able to get them at an infusion clinic.The hardest part was tapering down very slowly from the prednisone to avoid a surge of the disease as my body came under the effects of Nucala. At the end, under 15mg, go Very slowly. I had one surge, went back to 20 and then followed advice from others in mayo clinic connection to go slowly. Consider percentages when you lower doses. 10 to 7-1/2 for 4 days then 5 for a week or more, then 3, and when lower than 2-1/2 go down by 1/4 of 1 mg at a time. Some version of this which works for You. You may have to watch for oral thrush when on both drugs til you can get off prednisone. The troches you let dissolve in your mouth 5X a day worked for me.
Hope this brings you hope. I had 12 years of up and down with prednisone before EGPA went active with vascular issues. There is an end to this tunnel and you are not alone. God bless you and go after that rheumatologist!
Hugs,
MTH13 (error in printing my address last time)

@jonifranklin Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect!! Did you know about MCC or did someone in the hospital recommend us? I know you’re scared and being sick and the the hospital is a very strange place to find yourself. The high doses of prednisone is what everyone with an autoimmune disorder gets in order to jumpstart treatment. Here is some information from Mayo Clinic about the disorder.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/churg-strauss-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353760
Have you got some family and friends that you can talk to?

Do have your doctor give you Nucala which is a humanized monoclonal antibody named Mepolizumab ( trade name Nucala) and specifically targets EGPA . Fewer side effects than the anticancer drugs. I hope it is available in New Zealand. I live in Massachusetts, USA.
MTH13 who is praying for you.