Update: End week 1 at 11.25. Up and down week--or rather, down and up. Troubling aches the first few days of the week, but the last 3 have been glorious. Stressy days correlate with more noticeable aches. Planning to sit on 11.25 for a few more weeks. I learned a ton this week.

Thoughts:

1. My taper log is priceless info.

2. I've been waking around 4 AM lately, and have been surprised to discover I'm in a lovely pain/ache-free zone. Shoulders like...normal...and happy. Hips not an issue. Then I doze/sleep, and by 6 AM the place on my upper arms labeled PMR starts to make its presence known. Not bad, but I get the message.

3. I think I finally got it sorted out in my head why I had those two painful days last month on the highest stress days of the summer: Need for cortisol to help out exceeded available cortisol/prednisone. I conclude that my adrenal glands are most likely effectively suppressed.

4. I sit on in my garden when I can these days, doing slow-motion arm PT. It's very peaceful, and I fancy I can feel my poor muscles relaxing and "breathing" in healing ways. NB: I used to describe my PMR, before I had heard of PMR, as "It's like a climbed a Rocky Mountain yesterday, and today I ache and just want to rest and recover. Except I never recover; it's like that every day." The bod really likes not feeling like that; I'm lucky to have to time to relax and let the accumulated muscle stress flow away. That's what it feels like, anyway.

5. No side effects so far. I've cleared a new supplement plan with all my docs, hoping to keep the worst at bay as I search for my lowest effective dose.

Excelsior