Don't panic ... I don't think "short term" Prednisone is that bad. On the other hand, I don't think your Prednisone dose should be increased for niggles of pain. I wasn't sure what a niggle was until I found a humorous video that explained it to me.

I never increased for niggles like some people might suggest that you do. I certainly increased my Prednisone dose for other reasons and for pain that wasn't PMR. It just gets easy to blame PMR for all the pain when the Prednisone side effect of adrenal insufficiency accounted for some of it.

There are other painful things which we acquire as we age which might account for the rest of the pain. The amazing thing to me is how many conditions respond to prednisone but those conditions aren't treated with Prednisone.