Hi Rexbeer. I have sarcoidosis a rare autoimmune disease. I come from NZ. My Mother waS aLso from NZ. Her history was arthritis and pain in her hip and lower back, my history at 59 is the same ...the arthritis linked to the disease sarcoidosis. It presents the same. I was on Prednisone at higher doses which gave me osteopenia. I am on 2.5 but now getting off altogether. It did help my pain. There is significant history in our family genes certainly over the last 200 years. Kind regards. Lori

I am certainly not an expert although I've been down to 7 with a relapse a couple of times, and as high as 60 once. My doctor is trying to get me down to 2 or 3 mg, but I just don't make it down that far. He said that I'll likely always have to be on a low dose. He's concerned about long term use because of bone weakness. I have lost a bit of bone, so I'm on calcium, Vit. D, and I'm doing more weight bearing exercises. You seem to be tolerating it well so that's great for you. There is a medication that I could take, but I don't want any more meds. Pred is a miracle drug, and we do feel much better on it. No doubt. The good part for me is that I had very good bone strength for a woman my age (84), so the small amount of bone loss wasn't huge. I would assume that you are doing remarkably well with 2.5 mg. Good for you.