@martha13

I no longer have too many sleep problems although my wife would disagree when I wake up early. I like to be awake at the first hint of daylight. That is actually how the sleep/wake cycle is supposed to work.

Waking at the first hint of daylight is the normal circadian rhythm which involves decreasing melatonin and increasing cortisol levels. I must be making cortisol because my sleep/wake cycle is more normal now. I'm no longer taking Prednisone and I don't wake up with PMR pain anymore so I can't say either one of those things cause me to wake up early.

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I had trigeminal neuralgia (TN) in addition to PMR and other things. I know about the effects of amitriptyline not to mention all of the many other medications used for nerve pain. Neurological side effects include sedation and coma. I was never in a coma but I could certainly sleep for a long time when I took those medications for trigeminal neuralgia.

I had to stop taking all the medications used to treat trigeminal neuaralgia and only took Prednisone. The neurosurgeon that finally stopped the facial electricity was incredulous that I only took Prednisone.

Prednisone is not a standard, long-term treatment for trigeminal neuralgia (TN). While steroids can sometimes be used to manage acute flare-ups, they are not a primary solution for the underlying cause of the nerve pain. The neurosurgeon said he usually saw a list of pain medications a mile long for patients with trigeminal neuralgia.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36113711/
Regardless of what the above link says ... the microvascular decompression (MVD) surgery I had was the best option. Trigeminal neuralgia isn't called the "suicide disease" for nothing. I lived with trigeminal neuralgia for close to 25 years until I finally had the MVD surgery that completely stopped the facial electricity from recurring.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11884208/
and
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5849951/
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It only took a neurologist a few minutes to diagnose TN. I got referred by my ophthalmologist who was treating uveitis at the time. I only mentioned the electricity near my left eye thinking it had something to do with uveitis.

Since I was also diagnosed with PMR -- no doctor ever said the facial electricity caused by trigeminal neuralgia (TN) was GCA. The "electric" facial pain characteristic of TN is typically distinct from the types of facial and jaw pain associated with GCA.