I was diagnosed with PMR in January 2026 by urgent care doctor. The pain came on what seemed like overnight in November 2025. I was prescribed 15mg predisone which seemed to take care of all the pain within a few hours. Since I had no primary care doctor at the time, the internal med dept. at the clinic’s instructions were to take 15mg for 30 days, then taper to 10mg for 30 days, then taper to 5mg for 30 days then stop prednisone at which time I would be referred to a rheumatologist. When I got to 5mg, I began to start having the neck, shoulder, lower back pain especially in morning hours. I began taking Tylenol 650mg twice a day to alleviate pain. I finally was accepted to set up an appointment with a new primary care doctor and my appointment is May 19th. In the meantime I connected through portal and asked to taper to 2-1/2mg prednisone rather than stop at the end of the5mg prescription. At 2-1/2mg, the pain level was more intense so I’m back at 5mg until my doc appointment. I try to stretch neck and shoulders in morning as well as wear a heated neck wrap for a bit.
I’m confused about how much pain to tolerate when tapering. I do have osteoporosis and worry about further bone loss on prednisone. In general my health has been good. I am 78 and I have been going to a gym three times a week fairly consistently to get aerobic and strength training. Seems the movement helps.
I finally asked through the portal to be referred to a rheumatologist but as yet haven’t heard from them and I heard our local rheumatologist department isn’t taking new patients.
Aargh!
I have been reading some of the posts almost daily and found how varied this disease presents as well as treatment for it.