I think it depends on how long you stay on Prednisone, I had two distinct experiences with taking Prednisone. I routinely took 60 mg of Prednisone and up to 100 mg sometimes and tapered off again in a month or two. I know for a fact that bursts of high dose Prednisone followed by a fast taper works well for some autoimmune conditions and flares. I did many of those Prednisone bursts and fast taper off again for 20 years before PMR was diagnosed. I never had that many lingering side effects from "short term" but frequent Prednisone use other than early onset cataract formation at the age of 40.

I attempted to do the same Prednisone burst and fast taper after PMR was diagnosed. It didn't work for PMR like it did for my other autoimmune conditions. My rheumatologist and I had a long talk about how we were going to treat PMR. She said PMR was going to be a "long term proposition" and I needed to find a "stable dose" of Prednisone that worked. I needed less Prednisone to start with (roughly 30 mg) but it took me more than 12 years to taper off.

This second experience with Prednisone was when I experienced all my side effects. The side effects I had were slow and insidious but over time it was hard to deny that taking Prednisone on a "long term" basis was completely different from taking Prednisone on a "short term" basis.

My side effects from long term prednisone use didn't improve as soon as I tapered off Prednisone. My side effects from long term prednisone persisted for a long time. Adrenal insufficiency alone didn't allow me to completely taper off Prednisone for almost a year. After I tapered off Prednisone it took at least another year for my side effects to start improve. For example --- my 3 blood pressure medications were stopped one by one during the 2-3 years after Prednisone was stopped. I have been able to discontinue many of my medications that were treating Prednisone side effects. Some of the medications I was taking were started to prevent prednisone side effects.

I have been off Prednisone for more than 5 years. I still say that I am "recovering" for PMR and Prednisone side effects.