Wow, I never heard that! I was comfortable at 16mg medrol but with reductions have incremental increases in symptoms. Dr added the MTX in hopes of getting me off steroids.

Pain free seems like a high-bar though I did achieve that when I first was prescribed 15 mg. at diagnosis. When I dropped to 12.5 I felt some pain, but not too much. I've heard people say you need to settle at 80% of the relief you had at first, or being reasonably comfortable. But I think you're right in that too many people taper with pain and then the inflammation just accumulates until you have a flare. It seems to be something we each have to figure out for ourselves.