Yes, I split the dose too. Started on 15mg prednisolone in May last year and had 70% morning pain reduction taking it all in the morning as instructed. After finding out that PMR inflammation peaks while we sleep in the early hours of the morning, and seeing others take a small part of their prednisone in the evening for full pain control, I changed to 12.5mg morning & 2.5mg in the evening. There was no morning pain with the split dose.

I think we all want to stay painfree, I certainly do. I'm currently on 6mg a day, taking 4mg in the morning & 2mg at 6.30pm. A month ago I tried reducing the evening dose from 2mg to 1.5mg, but some small new aches and joint tenderness reappeared and had not resolved as they usually do after a week or two. I wouldn't rate it even 1/10 on a pain scale, but it was new and persistent, and in my mind could only get worse as I reduced. So I put the evening dose back to 2mg (2 days ago) with my doctor's agreement, and reduced the morning dose by the .5mg instead. The small evening dose is key to maintaining pain control for me. I'll be reducing from morning dose only for a while.

Make sure to keep your doctor informed about any changes you make or want to make with prednisone. It's not something to mess around with, but tweaks to dosage that maintain pain control and improve our lives without increasing side effects should be of interest to them. My doctor is on board with that.