Hello Mike @vinnieh, Welcome to Connect. I'm really sorry to hear about your PMR symptoms flaring back up after such a long struggle to lower your prednisone dosage. I have not tried acupunture when my PMR was active so I'm hoping other members will be able to share their experience. I can remember my mother having acupunture treatments to help with her rheumatoid arthritis but from my memory the treatment didn't offer any long term relief so I'm a little bit of a skeptic. I did see some enlightening information in a November 2021 article that gives the treatment some positive light.

How acupuncture fights inflammation: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/11/researchers-pinpoint-how-acupuncture-targets-inflammation/

I've had 2 occurrences of PMR, both I was started at 20 mg prednisone by my rheumatologist. I only took my dose of prednisone in the morning. My first round with PMR took 3 and half years to taper off with the last six months going back and forth between 1 mg and 1/2 mg until I was able to not take the 1/2 mg dose with the pain coming back. I did much better the second time around with PMR after a six year remission. It only took me a year and a half to taper off of prednisone. I credit the improvement of my second round with PMR to adding some lifestyle changes that helped with the PMR. Mostly giving up all fast foods, eliminating as much sugar as I could and adding a little more exercise into daily routine. Here's some information that has some suggestions if you have not already seen it --- https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321683

Have you talked with your rheumatologist to see if there might be something else going on in addition to your PMR?

I did try acupuncture and actually had a few strange pains the following days, one felt like sciatica, the other a tooth/jaw pain. I didn’t know at the time that I had underlying PMR, thought I just had aches and pains. Talked to acupuncturist who said that accupuncture strengthens the immune system which is the exact opposite you want if you have an autoimmune disease. About 3 months later, had full-blown PMR, but think it was underlying when I had the accupuncture. It is still active, but I am now down to 2-3 mg. Prednisone, taking my time decreasing. Acupuncturists vary, but if I would do it, would make sure acupuncturist has knowledge of autoimmune disease so they don’t make it worse