Yes ... that might be true. I was referred to an endocrinologist when I was still on 10 mg of prednisone. The endocrinologist said there was nothing she could do if I still needed that much Prednisone to control PMR. She referred me back to my rheumatologist to see if there was "anything else" that rheumatology could do to decrease my prednisone dose.

The endocrinologist I saw thought 3 mg of Prednisone or less was a "low enough" dose for my adrenals to get the message to produce cortisol again. She said it was anyone's guess how long it would take but I needed to be on 3 mg or less.

The idea was that 3 mg or more of Prednisone was enough prednisone to replace the body's need for cortisol. About 5 mg is the replacement dose for people with Addison's and for people who have lost adrenal function.

People on long term Prednisone won't always lose adrenal function permanently but the longer we take Prednisone the risk increases.