@mbm and @phoenix0509, my rheumatologist explained to me that PMR affects people differently. The goal is to get the person off of prednisone as soon as possible when they able to taper off with little to no pain. I struggled with my first occurrence of PMR and it took me 3 years to taper off. That's when the rheumatologist told me about another one of his patients that had been on 1mg of prednisone for a year before being able to taper off. The last six months I went back and forth between 1mg and 1/2mg before being able to stop taking prednisone without having the pain return. What helped me was keeping a daily log of my pain level (arbitrary 0 to 10 of how I felt) and dosage. That allowed me to look back and determine how fast I could taper off. It really helped when the PMR returned after 6 years of being in remission. The second time I was able to taper off in 1-1/2 years.

Good luck on your tapering! Hoping for a pain free day for all of my PMR friends.

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