Hi Barbara, don't give up. My PMR went into remission after 3 years of tapering off of prednisone. It was gone for 6 years and came back last year in August and I too am struggling to get off of it. I started back on the 20 mg dosage and am now at 5 mg going up and down by 1/2 mg if the pain kicks up. I don't think it's withdrawal pain but more likely that the prednisone is controlling the inflammation that causes the pain so you take away the prednisone and the inflammation is still there (non medical trained thinking here). It's also important to keep doing at least some mild exercise without over doing it.

I hate taking the stuff too!

John

i could be so very wrong but i think the meds that are given to help our rheumatoid and psoriatic diseases are good but not specific for our diseases. hopefully they are still trying to work out different meds that will truly work. i think the prednisone will work for other problems but we need another medication that is specific for rheumatoid and psoriatic. (whatever meds that are out now do not seem to do what is needed and the side affects are not acceptable. keep dancing with a smile.

@barbararene, Hi, Barbara. I was on prednisone for another reason - 5mg daily for 8 years. I never had any joint pain before, but when tapering under doctor supervision, I developed awful nagging pain that I had never before experienced. It took 3-4 weeks for my body to readjust to the tapered dose of prednisone and for that pain to go away.
Rosemary