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First time on this site. 73 yo just diagnosed with classic clinical presentation and SED rate of 74 and CRP 120. Crippling pain and stiffness. Started on 20mg 5 days ago. Dramatic relief in one day. I still have mild/moderate pain and stiffness in morning. Does this mean I need a higher dose or will symptoms resolve over time? Do symptoms have to be completely gone before tapering can begin? I would imagine. Still under care of PCP until I can see a rheumatologist. After reading many comments, looks like this is going to be a life long journey.
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@villager Sorry you had to join “ our club”. Before you increase your prednisone dosage, you might try splitting it. 10 in the morning and 10 in the evening. Or 15/5 and see how you feel. I started last March with 15 and had immediate relief. I tapered slower than my PCP recommended after reading everyone’s tales on this site. Currently down to 1/2 mg daily. Hoping the “wolf” won’t return….good luck
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Welcome @villager, I think it's good news that you had dramatic relief in one day. If you take your prednisone dose in the morning, I think it's normal to feel some aches/pain/stiffness the following morning before your next dose. I don't think there is a set rule for when to taper to a lower dose since we are all a little different. If you are not already keeping a daily journal of your level of pain and the dosage for the day, I would suggest starting one. My rheumatologist started me with a proposed tapering schedule but told me not to taper down to the next lower dose if my level of pain was not acceptable. For me, acceptable was less than 2 on a scale of 1 to 10.
You might want to take a look at a discussion started by @dadcue here:
-- How to Slowly and Safely Taper Off Prednisone but ... no set rules.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/how-to-slowly-and-safely-taper-off-prednisone-but-no-set-rules/
One thing that I had to be careful of was overdoing my daily exercise or activity which sometimes made my aches/pains worse the next day. My PMR is now in remission but there is always that chance that it will flare up again. The first time I was diagnosed it lasted 3-1/2 years before I was able to taper off prednisone. The second time I was able to taper off in 1-1/2 years but I made a few lifestyle changes after my first time with PMR, mostly losing a little weight, eating healthier with much less sugar and staying as active as I can. Have you looked into any lifestyle type changes that might help with the PMR?