More than likely ... the pain/stiffness is the result of missing your dose. I worried about doing that but PMR had a way of reminding me to take my prednisone whenever I forgot.

Sometimes I couldn't remember if I took my daily dose or not. I strongly recommend those weekly medication dosettes. I would lay out all my medications that I planned to take for the whole week on a Sunday. That way my dose would still be in the compartment of the dosette waiting for me to take it if I forgot.

I think a dosette is especially important when you taper Prednisone. People try all kinds of taper strategies by changing their dose every day. That is fine if it works for them but that just confused me. I couldn't remember what dose that I was supposed to take from one day to the next.

My rheumatologist emphasized a "stable dose" instead of a dose that changed every day. My day-to-day pain/stiffness varied slightly when I kept my daily dose the same for an entire week or several weeks. If I had a dramatic increase in pain in one day it was likely that I forgot a dose. If the pain/stiffness increased several days in a row, it was likely a flare since my dose wasn't changing every day.