In 2008 my mother had GCA at age 87. I took her to specialist after specialist and no one ever mentioned GCA. After a few months she woke up with blurry vision and at that point I took her to the hospital. Luckily for my mother she was attended to by an outstanding rheumatologist (NY metroplolitan area) who immediately reocognized her symptoms as GCA. She was started on 80mg prednisone, her symptoms immediately disappeared, and the next morning she had a little biopsy of her temple red blood cells which confirmed GCA. My mom did really well over a year's time until she was slowly weined off the prednisone. The GCA never came back. Her blood was checked every 3 months by the Rheumy for a few years after. Currently I have PMR and am doing very well with methylprednisolone. For me, that works much better than regular prednisone. My dose is 16mg/day. I take 4mg at 1am when I need to use the bathroom and then I eat a banana around 6am (next bathroom stop) and take the rest which is 12mg. My Reumy says it is better to take the meds in the AM since that is the normal time that your body makes cortisol. I feel myself. I just started 3 weeks ago 16mg (methylprednisolone is a bit stonger than regular pred so a lower dose is prescribed). I am round the clock with no symptoms. Just an FYI, Facebook also has a support group called "Living With PMR". People participate from other countries like Canada, UK and Australia. Those folks are given PREDNISOLONE, not PREDNISONE. Prednisone must first go to your liver to be converted to prednisolone. Prednisone is already what you need. Just an FYI.... my cat is on prednisolone, not prednisone. Cats cannot metabolize prednisone. There liver cannot do that. Wish you the best!