@ruralgal76

One time my rheumatologist tried to "reframe" the way I thought about Prednisone. She said Prednisone was only intended to control the inflammation caused by PMR. She said Prednisone wasn't intended to relieve any and all pain that was being caused by my other medical conditions.

What she said made me think about it. It was true that I was told distinctly that reactive arthritis and uveitis which are other autoimmune conditions weren't treated with long term Prednisone but it works great in the short term. My other autoimmune conditions had better treatment options that actually prevent flares and were safer than long term Prednisone. This is also generally true for people with RA and other autoimmune conditions as well.

I had another condition called trigeminal neuralgia that was NOT autoimmune related. A neurosurgeon told me prior to surgery that he usually saw a list of pain medications a "mile long" for people with trigeminal neuralgia. He didn't see any pain medications that I was taking. I pointed out that I only took Prednisone because it worked "reasonably well." The neurosurgeon didn't consider Prednisone an appropriate pain medication for trigeminal neuralgia. That was a short time after an emergency room doctor gave me IV steroids because I had the worst case of trigeminal neuralgia he ever saw.

I got quick relief from IV steroids however, I was referred to the neurosurgeon when an MRI scan revealed the cause of the problem. I was taking Prednisone whenever I have attacks of trigeminal neuralgia pain. The neurosurgeon told me after surgery that prednisone might have helped the pain but prednisone wasn't ever going to fix the problem.