Hi @sandy1988, Welcome to Connect. Tapering off of prednisone can be difficult for a lot of us. My first time with PMR I was also started on 20 mg dose and it immediately got rid of the pain. It then took me 3 and half years to taper off with going back and forth between 1 mg and 1/2 mg dose until I was able to stop taking prednisone. What helped me the most was some advice and suggestions by my rheumatologist. He told me to keep a daily pain and dosage log while I was tapering with the pain scale between 1 and 10. Then only taper down if the pain was tolerable. For me that was either a 1 level or 2 level of pain/ache when I got up in the morning. It always seem to get better as the day went on and I moved around. If I woke up after tapering down and my pain was above 2, then I would increase the dose by half of what I went down the day before to see if that made a difference. Basically it was learning how to listen to my body and how I felt and adjust the prednisone to get me through the day.

My PMR went into remission for six years and then came out again and I started on 20 mg again. This time tapering was much easier for me and I was able to taper off in a year and half. I did make some lifestyle changes which I think really made a different - more exercise (not the intense stuff!), eating healthier and less inflammatory food, eliminating as much sugar as possible, etc..

Have you tried to make any lifestyle or diet related changes to see if that would help?