Thank you for the reply. My internist is working on this. There is a 6 to 8 month wait for an appt with a rheumatologist in our region. I do have very real and significant damage in my lower back and I am having MRI of cervical spine and a total body CT this week to make sure nothing is wrong there. None of the other labs ( and the blood work was extensive) signaled anything of concern. The doc started high dose prednisone because my CRP had risen 22 points in 5 weeks...he wanted to lower the inflammation. I did tell a difference by the end of the first day, but had hoped things would be basically gone by last night. This morning I am feeling better..subtle but real.