Have you checked your Vitamin D?

That might be true for some people, but I rarely use sun screen. I'm not out in the sun enough to need it. The only time I use it is if I'm out in the sun for an extended time, mainly on water, like canoeing.

@jabrown0407
Former physical therapist here, so I'm familiar with the benefits of exercise. I prefer gardening, riding my bicycle, hiking and birding (carrying a telescope a mile or two). Then I get the healing benefits of nature along with the activity. I do my best, probably a third to a half of what I previously could do physically with pain being the limiting factor. I believe the bone loss caused by prednisone is beyond what exercise can counteract, especially for women. I minimized my time on Fosamax to when I was on higher prednisone doses. I think the vitamin D is needed especially since I do wear sunscreen after enduring a chemical peel for a pre-cancerous skin condition.

@ventmann I have chronic bilateral trochanter bursitis thanks to PMR. This is the root case of my hip pain, including a searing pain down my legs. I see a Sports Medicine doctor to treat this. I don't think I could take enough oral steroids to cut that pain. I have had several steroid injections for the bursitis as well as wet needling. I am now considering dry needling plus some private pay possibilities. I went to my knee Ortho to have my self diagnosis confirmed. He did not treat. My Rheumy gave me a couple of the injections until I found the sports med doc.

@linda7 impressive. I have trouble walking two blocks on level pavement. I had a one mile goal for 4 years. Finally achieved it this Spring.

I have right shoulder pain. too. I'm down to 6 mg, but I have good days and bad days. My blood work is perfect--everything. Shoulder X-rays--no problems. So Doc says continue to lower dosage every two weeks. And I want off prednisone, so I do.

This is very frustrating.

Tylenol may lower pain from 6 to 5 or 5 to 4. No more. Last night's pain was a 7-8. I did not lift yesterday. I can tell you the only thing that helps is lifting, and honestly, it's so painful to lift that I'm not sure anyone else in that gym is in as much pain as I am. But the morning after a lifting day, I have the least pain. 3 to 2 even. (I continue lifting so I can babysit/lift my granddaughter.)

I run or walk every day, which may be why my legs are always at a 3 to 2. Yes, some days are so difficult.

I am in such a "poor me" funk. I eat really well, exercise, and this disease stinks. I watch people eat junk food, ice cream, sit around, and here I am doing everything I can to get better and am in so much pain that I wonder how long I am going to have to stand this!

My suggestion is start out with very little weight but start lifting if you can. Then put one foot in front of the other and carry on.

One thing to think about is that 6 mg of Prednisone is a "fixed dose" but that isn't how the body regulates cortisol. The body is designed to get bursts of cortisol during stressful situations. I would think lifting weights is a type of stress. Your cortisol level should increase when weight lifting but Prednisone suppresses your adrenal function. You won't get the cortisol response to weight lifting that you should get.

The pain you feel when weight lifting could stem from the body's need for more cortisol. Unfortunately, increasing the dose of Prednisone to facilitate weight lifting isn't appropriate.

It might be a mistake to push through the pain when you do weight lifting. Maybe you could reduce the amount of weight you lift.

Another thing that could be happening is something called insulin resistance that is caused by Prednisone. With insulin resistance, the energy from glucose isn't delivered to muscle cells during weight lifting. This can also explain some of the pain you have during weight lifting. Muscle recovery times after weight lifting will also be prolonged because of adrenal suppression. Adequate cortisol function is essential for a normal recovery of muscles that are used for exercise.

I think exercise is vital for PMR. Unfortunately, the prednisone we take to treat PMR makes exercise very challenging. I like the advice you give to start slowly and gradually increase the amount of exercise over time. It doesn't have to be weight lifting on dry land. Water resistance during aquacise can also be very beneficial.

@dadcue OMG this is all so confusing!!!!
I track everything. If I can get through a painful lifting session one day, the pain level for my arms goes from a 5-6 to a 3-2 the next day every time.
My legs are always 3-2, but I run or walk every single day.
I was in a car for a 10 hour drive and in the 24 hours afterward, my arm pain level rose to an 8-9. Horrible! My legs to a 7.
I'm trying to figure this all out without knowing anything about biology and drugs.

I didn't know anything about endocrinology and the naturally occurring hormone called cortisol that the adrenals produce. I was trying very hard to understand autoimmune disorders and making sense out of everything the immune system does including what happens when the immune system goes haywire.

When someone explained to me how the endocrine system works and especially the HPA axis, everything made more sense to me. Understanding how Prednisone disrupts how the endocrine system is supposed to work explained why it was nearly impossible for me to taper off prednisone.

Cleveland Clinic explains the HPA axis well:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-hpa-axis
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The following explains what long term Prednisone does to the HPA axis.
https://www.droracle.ai/articles/131610/give-me-detailed-info-on-chronic-prednisone-use-and-the-hpa-axis