You were diagnosed young! Wow! I was told it was an old person's disease. I had wondered if grief had something to do with this disease. My mom died 4 months before this crap started. She had battled lupus most of her adult life. Was PMR my inheritance from her? I sometimes wonder. It also felt as if it was my 65the birthday gift as it started one month after my birthday and on my birthday I was still running. I had exercised(over-exercised too -helped me deal wth stress) for 30 years and was fit. Then the excruciating hip and shoulder pain started. It took months to get a partial diagnosis because I refused the prednisone at that time. I live in quebec and they assign you a doctor -if you can get one- whether you trust-like them or not and I don't trust this one and had never heard of PMR so I didn't understand what she was talking about. Months later, I finally saw a rheumatologist who was yelling at me in her office, telling me I'd get GCA if I refused the prednisone. I just left and tried everything and I mean everything natural that I could to get rid of the pain. Of course I spent a fortune. A chiropractor helped my shoulders, a " healer" helps with inflammation to a degree but nothing else worked and it got worse so I had to try the prednisone which worked great for 17 days and stopped working. I eventually saw another rheumatologist, very young and unexperienced but trying to help. I also have osteoporosis and broke my hip in April but I was knocked over by a 130lbs dog. That healed well despite the osteoporosis. Now he wants me off the pred quicky and I am at 5mgs with lower pain levels (but now have pain in the sternum area but not the shoulders?) and I can function. I garden, stack wood, rake, I'm still active but too much exercise causes flare-ups. I do go to exercise bone building classes. Of course the hours the pred is working is when I do all this. Am pretty good from 11am onwards) I have cleaned up my diet as much as I could and don't drink but would like to sometimes. I take care of my elderly and deaf father, so a lot of stress there. My question is: Are you off all medication and do you feel the PMR is completely gone? How did you feel during the lower end of the taper? Did you have to go back up at some point and then reduce? The rheumatologist wanted me on metrotraxate to get off it the pred faster but I refused after remembering my mother taking it and not doing well and all the research I did but he did write me a prescription for hydroxychoroquine but haven't started it yet. Sorry this is so long. Just wondering about your experience getting off pred. and how you feel now. Thank you.