Hi @rolandhp - it might be worth it to try the 20 mg in the morning to see if it gets you through the entire day. I've been on 5 mg for a couple of weeks taking it first thing in the morning but today I was going to see if splitting it into 2.5 in the morning and evening will work and help me get off sooner. 2 months is not a long time from my experience with my first episode and the second one started around last August. So I would stay on the dosage until you can taper off a small amount at a time.

John

@rolandhp- I'm sorry you're having issues with adjusting to the dosage. I was diagnosed with PMR in October 2015. Initially on 15mg of prednisone and felt relief the day after the initial dose. My rheumatologist started weaning me off at 2.5mgs every two weeks. I started feeling the affects of PMR once below 10mg (7.5mg) and went back to 10mg. That helped but found I was waking in the morning in pain. My doctor recommended taking 7.5 in the morning and 7.5mg at night. That didn't work because the night dosage interfered with my sleep and caused stomach issues. Went back to 15mg in the morning and started the weaning process all over again. BTW, the 15mg dosage once per day did take care of my morning pain.

All was going well until last March. I was down to 2.5mgs once a day before I my relapse. I am now on 20mgs once per day and will start reducing 2.5mgs every four weeks starting next week.

It's very surprising to me how 1-2mg reduction can make a difference on how I felt. You may have to reduce 1/2-1mg at a time.

The most frustrating thing (other than the pain) to deal with, for me anyway, is trying to find the optimal dose AND to figure out the correct reduction schedule.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

It is frustrating and I'm sure it's different for each of us which makes it really difficult to taper off of prednisone. My first occurrence it took me about three months going between 1 and 1/2 mg before I was finally able to completely stop taking it. I'm at 5 mg dosage now on the 2nd occurrence of PMR and today thought I would try to split the dosage to 2.5 in the morning and 2.5 mg in the evening. Here it is mid afternoon and I'm still feeling OK. Kind of like the guy that jumped off a 10 story building and every floor you could hear him saying "so far, so good". Hoping we all are able to have Mr. Nasty go into remission for a long long time.

Good luck!
John

I guess I still have a lot to learn I was diagnosed in April so I guess I am a newbie with this strange ailment. Working with my dose don't yet know if 10 AM & 10PM mg's works well some mornings I have a small amount of pain & other mornings it is bad. This is frustrating but I will get a handle on it. Also it depends what kind of activity I do during the day that determine how I will feel the next morning.

One of my problems is that I am very active & yes it is frustrating & have very little patient with this, I had a heart by-pass done 5 years ago & that was easier then dealing with this PMR thing. Can't imagine having a relaps once this goes into remission if it ever does.

Active is good. I had to go back to taking the 5 mg for the day instead of splitting the dosage. Had a little shoulder pain this morning.

A little shoulder ailment in the morning I can deal with but when it involves the hips & both shoulders & can't do much till about noon now that is where my problem lies. Yesterday I took 10mg in the morning & 10 mg with evening meal this morning right shoulder hurts will see how that ends up tomorrow morning because I skip the prednisone today????

I there a reason your doctor has you skip a day? Is it part of his taper off schedule? I am not a doctor, but everyone I know who have taken prednisone in the past have never skipped a day while tapering off the medication.

Unfortunately it may take 1-5 years for PMR to go into remission. My Mayo rheumatologist told me he has had some patients on prednisone for over 6 years, I've been on it since October 2015. My local rheumatologist wanted me off in 8 months!

Today I reduced from 20mgs to 17.5mg per day, once in the morning. BTW, I've read and my doctor confirms, prednisone should be taken before 9am. Something to do with the way the body processes the medication. You may want to google it if you haven't already.

As far as being active, John is correct. The worse thing you can do is NOT stay active. I find walking helps a great deal with the hip pain.

Hang in there!

Oh yes I do stay active 4 days at the gym, I also am a cyclist & motorcyclist plus do a lot of volunteer work. Like I had said before I've only had this since March so it is still new to me. Now the steroids is it suppose to help cure it or is it just to live pain free while the PMR decides to go into remission? I use my primary doctor as the closest rheumatologist is 150 miles but my Dr. said he has other patients that he treats for PMR

That's a good question. My rheumatologist explained it to me as arthritis all over the body. I don't think the steroids cure it but help reduce the symptoms/inflammation that causes the pain (non medical opinion). I'm not sure why it goes into remission. My first occurrence was in 2007 and lasted until 2010. My second one started in March 2016 and I'm hoping doesn't goes as long.

John