@martyn Yep, same here. Was petrified (dec 2025), always active, healthy diet. I was scared of Prednisone, refused for 2.5 months (Jan-March 2026 in USA no insurance) and finally accepted pred when I could not walk up the stairs. This from a Canadian doc who's sister has exactly the same thing, PMR 2 weeks after Corona booster. My pain was completely gone 1-2 hours after 1st pred dose of 30MG. During the 2.5 months of pain but no drugs I juiced, fasted, completely stopped drinking and ate mostly vegetables. I DID gain 10LB on pred but had lost 30, so that was OK. I am crying now about the hair loss. Once started on pred mid March, tapered somewhat quickly, 5MG each week. At 2.5MG now tapering from 7 days a week, each week 1 day less. Lots of pain but manageable and it it is less later in the day. This forum opened my eyes to all the very different experiences people have at the different levels of Prednisone and biologicals. And like @tweetypie13 mentioned keep a diary. We are all a bit delusional (well, I am;-) and I forgot the pain. It does seem from what everyone says living healthy is important. Good luck on your journey.

@martyn I haven't read through all the replies, but I want to tell you that you will get through this. I diagnosed myself but had a hard time getting a doctor to do the bloodwork to diagnose me officially-- as an older adult, I was told that everything was due to osteoarthritis. I woke up one morning unable to move my arms or legs. My first thought was stroke, but I quickly remembered that this can happen with PMR and that strokes are not bilateral. I managed to gently wiggle and then more and more movement until I could get out of bed. It seemed like forever but objectively must not have been long because I really really had to go to the bathroom and made it. Finally I got a diagnosis from my PCP and got on prednisone. Eventually I got an appointment with a rheumatologist who now manages my PMR. I was off for a few years, have had only minor flares until recently -- I didn't recognize non-specific signs of fatigue and just not feeling like exercising as a reaction to tapering after a flare. Things went on, and long story short, I had a full-blown prednisone withdrawal syndrome hit me with signs of secondary adrenal insufficiency. So this is new to me, and it is too early in the game for me to feel much besides depressed over it, but I am working on acceptance and doing what I can. Baby steps each day. So the take home for you is -- PMR does get better, there may be minor setbacks, most of them are minor, make sure you are very tuned in to subtle changes and stay in good communication with your doctor. You'll do fine.

@martyn Hi, I am also in UK aged 81 and in quite good heath. GP was sceptical of my self-diagonsis of PMR based on my bilateral shoulder and hip pain that developed over a few weeks after a covid booster late April. Coincidence ?? My ESR was normal and CRP 6.2 (barely elevated). Research showed that inflammation markers may be near normal with PMR.
The acid test is - does the pain resolve quickly after a few days of prednisone or prednisolone? (basically the same). I looked for a Rheumatologist to get an expert opinion. On the 'Prednis-test' on 15 mg/day, my pain improved, but very slowly which confused the Rheumatologist - till I found she had prescribed enteric-coated Prednisolone - which is not absorbed in the stomach. Standard Pred is absorbed and works faster. She then prescribed the correct non-EC Pred. A PIP to protect the stomach lining is recommended and Lansoprazole seems to be better than Omeprazole.
Later blood test showed CRP had jumped to 34. I aso found splitting the dose 10 mg in morning and 5 mg evening avoided a morning pain peak. Rheum was still unhappy with my slow response and proposed to stop Pred after 2 weeks and arrange some scans (Hips X-Ray FDG PET CT).
2 days after stopping the Pred I had an unpleasant fainting episode blood pressure dropped dramatically. This is known to affect some people when stopping Pred suddenly - usually after a longer period than 2 weeks - but be aware. Luckily I was in the doctors surgery with my wife for a blood test when it happened. All was back to normal in a couple of days. (Get a BP monitor).
The scans were also normal - so sign of GCA or anything 'nasty' so I restarted Pred at 20 mg / day (I split 10 and 10). Over a week the pain progressively reduced to the point where I was pain-free, and I continued pain-free apart from a 24 hour flare early in 2nd week that I attributed to stress and not enough rest. For the 3rd and 4th week I reduced Pred to 15 mg (10 and 5). Some pain in my RH shoulder which I attribute to known OA (Osteo Arthritis). For the 5th week. I was advised to taper to 12.5 mg/day, but after 1 week I had some mild shoulder pain both L&R. (Hips OK though).
Conclusion was the taper to 12.5 mg was premature and Rheum suggest jump back up to 17.5 mg. I elected to try at 15 mg first and so far, everything is fine - until I fell off the shed roof trying to coax our cat down from the top of a 5 m high Leylandii hedge. As I lay in severe pain on my back my grandson remarked - 'is this the end of your football career graandad?' After 7 hours in A&E my PMR concern has receded, but at least today I can hobble gingerly round the garden and revisit the scene of my criminal stupidity - I was wearing croks.