High white blood count is due to the pred. See how you feel on six mg. Do you have recent cpr and sed rate results?

Hello, @ambershe, just read your comments re throbbing knee pain during the night...have you ever been awakened by badly itching and painful legs? Just wondered. I don’t think anyone knows why we get PMR. Guess we have to be thankful for prednisone. Also, it’s hard to find out if what we are experiencing is being caused by prednisone or PMR. Hope you have good support...it’s so important. Hang in there.

Hi @ambershe, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I also have polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) but it is currently in remission. I've had two occurrences of it 6 years apart. The first time it lasted about 3 years, all of the while I was trying to taper off. My rheumatologist helped me with a tapering plan. I also learned that it's different for everyone but the key is slow and easy. Like other members have mentioned, I don't really think they know what causes it other than they think the bodies autoimmune system attacks connective tissues and they think it may involve genetics. My mother had rheumatoid arthritis so it made sense to me since my rheumatologist explained it in layman's terms to me as arthritis all over the body. Sometimes even 1/2 mg dosage changes up or down can make a difference when tapering. This last occurrence of PMR I had I did most of the tapering on a weekly basis and if the pain was too much at the next lower dosage I bumped it up half of the decrease that brought the pain for 3 days to see if the pain would go away or become more tolerable.

Here's some information that talks about white blood count and prednisone dosage.

Prednisone-induced leukocytosis. Influence of dosage, method and duration of administration on the degree of leukocytosis.
-- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7304648

Did your doctor give you a tapering plan? I used a 2 week plan and sometimes went down to weekly or every three days when I felt really good. The key for me was working on healthy eating and some form of mild exercise without over doing it. Key word for me was "working" on it because it was hard for me to break some really bad snacking habits. Another tip someone passed on to me was eating foods that help fight inflammation -- https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/foods-that-fight-inflammation

@ambershe -Hi...I too have been reducing my meds from 20mg, my Doctor recommended reducing it monthly and it worked to a certain extent. I also listened to my body and symptoms and if still there did not drop till things settled. I find when I reduce the dose I normally have more pain in my shoulders and neck and that is what I have judged it by when reducing. I was on 5mg for over 4 weeks as I just did not feel well enough to drop the dosage, around 6 weeks I reduced to 4mg and my symptoms came back and have slowly settled over a period of weeks, still there but as you say not the same as without meds and for me bearable. I will stick to the 4mg until my body adjusts. I find that each drop the symptoms return but over the weeks they slowly reduce and get to a point where I can drop another mg. I too have had severe pain in my knees that I did not have originally, not there all the time but bouts of this where they just ache and I can not kneel on them. Regarding your question if PMR is caused by stress, I feel that mine was. I had a terrible year where my mother passed and then my sister also within 3 months of my mother. At that time also my son was hospitalized with a mental condition and I feel that all this just caught up with me and became too much. I also notice that if I get stressed then my symptoms feel worse. Maybe something for you to note if your systems flare up if you have had stress prior to it. I keep a journal each day of how I feel and put down what things I eat and how I am feeling. This is good to look back on if you want to see a pattern. I hope this helps and good luck with reducing your meds.

Hi:I am a 53 year old female , diagnosed with PMR when I was 51. We are both very young to have PMR from what they tell me. Stress can play a part in PMR, but I think genetics and environment are equally blamed. I have been tapering for the last two years on prednisone. Be very cautious to not come down too fast. It can really set you back on progress. I hope you have better luck with all of this than I have. It has been a tough 2 years but from what the doctors tell mew I have a very stubborn case of PMR.