My rheumatologist originally gave me standing orders for monthly crp and sed rate tests. Both were very high at the onset of my pmr. Any time I've had a flare my crp is elevated, the sed rate elevates but is still in normal limits. I'm due for bloodwork now. My current prednisone dose has greatly reduced hand swelling and pain. The beginning of this year I was down to less than 5 mg, no pain, bloodwork every other month and then a flare. My crp level seems to correlate with pain. Occasionally I've experienced some pain but my crp was normal and I seemed to work through it without increasing the prednisone doae. I was told to decrease 1 mg/month this time. I'm now alternating between 8.5 and 8 mg daily to get down to 8 for 2 weeks and then will try alternating between 8 and 7.5. I'm hoping the diet modifications I'm making will help.