Hi @opus640, Welcome to Connect. My PMR is currently in remission. I've had 2 occurrences of PMR and both times was started at 20 mg prednisone and within a short period of time the pain was pretty much zero for me. We each know our own pain scale and have to trust our body when it's too much. I kept a daily pain and prednisone dosage log which I used when tapering. I only tapered when my morning pain was a 0 or 1 sometimes a 2 if I was anxious to lower my dosage. I think it's normal to have some mild aches and pains when you first get up and they normally go away when you start moving some...at least for me they did.

You mentioned you haven't seen a rheumatologist yet and were diagnosed by your PCP and put on steroids for five days. Are you taking prednisone? How much if you don't mind my asking?