Thanks for your kind comments and the background.

My pain, prior to getting prednisone, was 24/7 and SEVERE. There was no stiffness, just intense pain in my shoulders, arms, and hips It was not something I would have been willing to continue living with if I had not found treatment.

Now that I am on prednisone (20mg/day), the pain is worse in the morning (about a 3 or 4 out of 10), and starts to let up around 2 pm, finally going down to something like 2/10 by late evening. Piece of cake compared to what I had before. But it's not ideal - I used to exercise regularly and be very active outdoors. I'm reduced to taking gentle walks.

It's not clear to me that my rheumatologist understands how severe my case is. She did not interact with me until I had already been on prednisone for about 5 days - my PCP made the original diagnosis and gave me a prednisone prescription, then referred me to a rheumatologist for long term treatment. The rheumatologist is already talking about "tapering" while I'm still in a fair amount of pain! Terrifying! (My PCP assures me that won't happen.)