I was just diagnosed two weeks ago and now on 20mg Prednisone daily. I had been suffering for over a year though so I was about at the end of my rope. A little background... I've been in pain management for 11 years due to severe spine issues (DDD & Stenosis) so when I woke up one morning and my left shoulder hurt, I just thought I had slept on it wrong. The problem was it never went away. The shoulder pain would get so bad it would interfere with me dressing myself and showering. Fast forward to 2021 and around February or so I started to get joint pain in my wrists and hands, right shoulder, hips, and knees. My pain management provider referred me to a Rheumatologist which I finally saw in June. He ordered blood work and my ESR was over 100 (I'm not sure what that means, just know it's high). He diagnosed me with PMR and ordered additional blood work which I will be having done next week. All this is pretty overwhelming for me because I'm only 56 and my PM doctor first suspected RA but the Rheumatologist doesn't think that is what this is. The follow blood test will have the CRP added to it. I will say, this is the most painful thing I've ever had to deal with and I probably would have tried to see someone sooner but I think the fact that I was already on pain medication and I have a fairly high tolerance to pain, made it seem not that serious. It wasn't until I couldn't walk that I started getting a little frightened. Thanks for reading.