Anyone experience fevers when tapering down on Prednisone for PMR?

Posted by moodymomma @moodymomma, Jul 23 1:37pm

My husband had frequent fevers before starting on prednisone for PMR. He started on 20 mg in April 2026 and his last fever was end of April. He tapered to 15 mg for 3 weeks then 10 mg for a month. No fevers, no pain. Then after 3 weeks on 7.5 the fevers returned. In the beginning the doctor told us the fever was caused by the inflammation. Just wondering if the taper is too fast.

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John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Jul 30 8:35am

Hello @moodymomma, It's definitely worth discussing with your husbands doctor or rheumatologist. I've had PMR twice but it's now in remission and my rheumatologist was always concerned about GCA showing up with the PMR. My rheumatologist or doctor never mentioned fever but did say to watch for any kind of head or facial pain. Here's some research that does mention a connection between flu like fevers and GCA and might be worth discussing with your husbands doctor.

-- Fever as the Sole Presentation of Giant Cell Arteritis: A Near Miss
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6563401/