I haven't tried Cymbalta. I have fibromyalgia and it's FDA approved for fibromyaliga; it might help chronic pain because it affects how the nerves process pain. It's also shown to help with depression, so it can be a two-fer, for people who are responders. That said, anecdotally it seems to me like people either respond really well to it, or really poorly (I'm in some chronic pain forums and know others with chronic pain). Because it's an SNRI (a neruomodulator or anti-depressant), it has all the potential side effects: Nausea, dry mouth, drowsiness, etc. Some people have a very difficult time getting off it too (discontinuation syndrome). I'm not trying to scare anyone off taking it, but I just bring it up because I have a medical condition that makes me very sensitive to medication, and my Neurology NP specifically warned me she had a fair number of patients who had a very difficult time with side effects or discontinuing Cymbalta. She said for people who are older or have the same sensitivity to medication I have, it can be a little more difficult to tolerate.

But it's really about quality of life. There are lots of different neuromodulators if Cymbalta ends up not working as well. Or do you think you'd want to try any of the other medications some have shared about using to help them reduce their prednisone (Kevzara, Actemra)? They've both been shown to help people get off prednisone. But I think you might need a rheumatologist for that, and I see you mentioned a PCP.

My dad is the one with PMR (my mom & I are his caregivers after he had a stroke), and the three of us together decided we weren't comfortable with the risks...because he also has extreme sensitivity to medication (probably where I got it from--for almost any anticholinergic, even Zyrtec for allergies, he gets really, really sick). He takes LDN (low dose naltrexone) for fatigue (we both do), and he takes a teeny tiny dose of Prozac (2.5 mg). It's helped. It's prescribed off-label from compounding pharmacies for chronic pain and autoimmune conditions, now including long COVID. It's harder to obtain because some physicians aren't aware of it, there's not much "high quality" research on it, but it's very low risk of side effects. There's really interesting research going on for its effects on chronic pain.