@martyn Yes, I've been off prednisone for about a year. I noticed that my metabolism returned to normal about month after I stopped taking prednisone, and my heart got strong again somewhere between 4 and 6 months after stopping. The decrease in maximum heart rate might have been more pronounced in my case because of the high doses of prednisone I had to take for GCA. I had 3 daily IVs of 1000 mg each day for my initial treatment. That was to help prevent vision loss. Then I took 60 mg a day for 6 weeks, and then tapered to zero over the next year.