I stayed at .5 for a month, then my doctor suggested that I only take it on my PT days. After a few weeks my PT days became fewer and farther between to the point that I realized that I'd gone 5 days without taking it. At that point I switched over to Tylenol.
I should warn you that in my case going to 0 mg was a difficult transition, I definitely had some sort of withdrawal process. But that passed, and now I sometimes find myself forgetting to take Tylenol with little to no consequences (unless I exercise too much). My total time from beginning to end with prednisone was around 16 months. It felt much longer.
I am a 71 year old female. I was sick for months before I sought help, and another several weeks to agree to prednisone,