@pbk128 . I too have been dismissed by doctors. Nothing more discouraging. Yes, being on prednisone long term is not fun nor good but the key is tapering as soon as one reaches a comfortable level with it in terms of pain reduction. A month of good pain reduction with prednisone and then tapering should start. This chat room has some amazing help with tapering, FYI. You also might want to look into Kevzara or Actemra. These are both biologicals that help with tapering.