People who can taper off prednisone quickly are my hero. I used to be able to taper off quickly but after PMR was diagnosed I couldn't any longer. Sometimes I think it was the 6 month delay in being diagnosed with PMR while prednisone was being restricted. I understand why prednisone was restricted even though I was self medicating with prednisone for 20 years before PMR was diagnosed.

It was a comedy of errors. I went to my wife's primary care doctor only wanting a prescription for prednisone. My wife went with me because she didn't want me to leave out any details. I wasn't going to say I was self medicating and was only going to say I needed prednisone. My wife's primary care doctor agreed with my wife. She wasn't going to prescribe prednisone but said I needed a rheumatologist.

When I saw the rheumatolgist a couple of months later, the first rheumatologist said I had a problem that wasn't treated with prednisone. Eventually another rheumatologist stepped into the fray. She thought I had PMR and said I needed to take prednisone long term instead of a couple of weeks.

I think when I started to take prednisne long term, that wiped out whatever adrenal function I had left. Then I wasn't able to taper off prednisone for 12+ years.

After all those years of PMR being treated with Prednisone another rheumatologist wanted me to try something different. I was switched to something else and tried to taper off Prednisone. It took time for my adrenals to recover but eventually I managed to taper off Prednisone.