I have been on 15mg of Prednisone since July for PMR. I get my health care at Mayo and this was the recommended dose from Mayo.

Because of the prednisone side effects, I have gone to my Dr and am tapering off prednisone. I am at 10 mg at present and will stay at this dose x 1 month and then slowly go down 1mg per month. I will even taper down by 0.5 mg per month if needed. I do have a little more pain but it is manageable. I exercise by walking and or doing arm exercises 30-40 minutes per day, throughout the day.

I am having tachycardia symptoms, fast heart rate, sweating and fatigue which I think was from the prednisone, this is improving with a lower dose of prednisone.

I have decided with my Drs. help that I am tapering off my symptoms and not my labs. Because I have PMR and it is an inflammatory condition, I think my CRPs will always be high, so depending on lab results to taper did not seem to make sense to me in tapering off the prednisone. I do not want to be on prednisone for years. I think the side effects are too much for ME to risk. Everyone reacts differently to prednisone. You may need a higher dose. You must be under an experienced Drs. care when on prednisone! The symptoms I am experiencing from the prednisone are worse than the pain from the PMR so I will manage the pain so I hope this works. We will see.

I went for an eye exam and spoke to my eye Dr. on what to watch for as far as GCA symptoms. That was also very helpful.

I think anyone with PMR needs to see an experienced health care provider that has experience with treating PMR. If they don’t have experience in treating PMR, find someone who does.