@acid2come- Boy do I understand about asking husbands when I'm sitting right there! Perhaps this started because you had a very hard time at the beginning talking but if you can, now is the time to speak up because as much as your is helping the doctor is not hearing anything from you. Keep speaking up at your appointments so that the dr. gets the idea! Have you told the dr.s that your throat feels itchy? It's most likely very irritated. The prednisone and time should make it feel better. If it's really severe then find out if you can swallow anything to soothe it. Tea with honey and lemon is very good- but not too hot to avoid burning your throat again. These things might help: a spoonful of honey to coat the throat, salt water gargles, nasal sprays, cough drops, and lozenges. I don't know if where you live is very dry, arid air but here in NE our cold days are just that. We have a pot of water that sits on a low flame on top of the stove to hydrate the air. Is this something that sounds like it might be doable?