Whenever someone says back surgery that gets my attention. Why did you need that? That truly introduces other things that could be happening. Sudden onset extreme back pain only during the night was why I took Prednisone initially about 40 years ago. I'm surprised anyone believed me because I could hardly believe it myself.

Now my entire spine is a disaster area. I need a multi-level lumbar fusion the most and that surgery is "pending."

At one stage, the surgeon said I wasn't a good surgical candidate for major back surgery because of Prednisone.

Now that I'm off Prednisone, the surgeon says surgery might not help.

An emergency MRI about 10 years ago revealed a major problem. I was insisting that "I didn't know that I had a bad back because Prednisone relieved all the pain."

I was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis about 25 years before PMR was diagnosed.

Now my rheumatologist says I have a "full range of rheumatology conditions."

After "decades of Prednisone use" it is clear to me that Prednisone was masking many things. Prednisone never solved anything but it did reduce "systemic inflammation."