I initially self-diagnosed because I had the exact symptoms of PMR and was unable to see a rheumatologist immediately so I took the methylprednisolone that I had for my knee problem. It worked within the hour to remove my pain and stiffness. Upon seeing the Rheumy I was prescribed regular prednisone and noticed it was not as effective as methyprednisolone, so I asked my Rheumy to please give me a script for methylprednisolone and she did. In addition, I am on a FB Page called "Living With PMR". There are members from Canada, UK and Australia. Their Drs prescribe PREDNISOLONE. The Prednisolone does not have to get converted in your liver. The PREDNISONE must first go to your liver to get converted to PREDNISOLONE. That may be another advantage by keeping your liver out of this.

Just an fyi to start... I started on methlprednisolone in early December. As I wrote above, I just happened to have the Methypred in the house. After seeing the Rheumatologist she put me on regular prednisone which I started to use. My eperience with the Methypted was a lot more effetive than the regular prdnisone and I liked that it did not have to use my liver to become effective like regular prednisone. At that time I asked my Rheumy to give me a script for the Methylprednisolone. Since mid December when I started Methylpred at 20mg/day, I am now down to 5mg/day as of May 20th. I never had any bad experiene decreaseing my dose. My last decrease to 5mg was just 2 weeks ago. For thr first time I felt some very slight PMR feelings in my shoulders and neck which would disappear as I got moving in the AM. Now it is 10 days that I am on 5mg and I have no PMR symptoms. I have never had a flare up.