Hello @lobito3, Welcome to Connect. My PMR is in remission but when I was tapering off of prednisone and the pain flared up I always returned to the previous dosage. Also, each time I tapered down I would keep at the new dosage if the pain level was tolerable. My rheumatologist had me keep a daily log where I recorded my pain level from 0 to 10 and my dosage. Pain level is different for each of us but for me if mine was 0 to 2 or 3 I would stay the course and it would usually get better in a few days. This was tapering on a weekly basis. Hopefully some of our other members will share their experience with tapering and the pain levels also.

Can you share how long ago were you diagnosed with PMR and what your current dosage is now?

I am on my fourth tapering, coming down from 25 mg, I am now alternating 3 one day, four the next. For me, when tapering in the teens, when I got a relapse it hit me pretty hard and I had to go back up several mgs to recover. My RA doc was also adding methotrexate to my meds regimen telling me that would help me get off the prednisone sooner. Once I got under 10 mg the relapses became more tolerable, I could feel them coming. I would then stop tapering for a month or more until my body felt better. At my current level I feel some PMR in the morning in my hips and upper arms but that is largely gone by midday. For me, I just accept that there will be some pain on the Journey and that’s just the way it is. I am tapering very slowly now: 1/4 to 1/2 per month. My tapering journey is now 20 months old. If I were to get hit hard in a relapse I know I’d need to go back up. I’ll do that if I have to but I am trying to make gradual progress, accepting some degree of pain as part of the process. Of course our bodies are all different, as is our tolerance for pain. I wish you good luck with your process.