Muscle pain in legs possibiy caused by 'overdoing' it

I wouldn't put it down to muscle weakness due to pred - i'd put it down to simply doing too much for your PMR. The pred is only managing the symptoms, it does nothing at all for the underlying autoimmune disease process that causes the symptoms we know as PMR. That is still chugging away in the background and leaves your muscles intolerant of acute exercise. That means you will develop muscle soreness even in response to an amount of exercise that you used to manage no bother. The good old lactic acid problem is compounded because it isn't cleared away as efficiently as you'd hope - result, sore muscles.

How long will it take to clear? Difficult to say - but almost certainly longer than you are used to I'm afraid. Not even sure there is anything that will speed the process up - unless Paula Radcliffe and Andy Murray's preferred option of standing in a wheelybin of ice water works...  Really NOT recommending that though!

And now you are at 10mg - resist the temptation to try to reduce 2.5mg at a time. Some years ago top US experts said not to reduce more than 10% of the current dose at one time. You've got away with it so far, but from 10mg you are obviously getting closer to what you are looking for: the lowest dose that manages the symptoms as well as the starting dose did. Equally obviously, you probably already know that 7.5mg is a step too far at present. You don't know though whether it is 9.5 or 8 that is going to be "your" dose. I'm very in favour of slow reductions - because in fact you may need less than 7.5mg - too big a percentage reduction can result in something called steroid withdrawal rheumatism which is almost identical to PMR symptoms - and you can get it even at well above that magic dose. So I'd do 1/2mg at a time to reduce the risk of that confounder. If you are using enteric coated pills (5mg red, 2.5mg brown) then you will need a supply of 1mg tablets that you can cut, pill cutters to make it simpler available from the chemist. Do NOT cut enteric coated tablets.

Ironically I usually find the opposite.  I can overdo it and be exhausted and in pain but after a night's rest I'm back to my new normal, and sometimes better.  I put that down to improved circulation from the exercise.  

Gillian--I would ascribe your leg pain to an over-rapid reduction in pred, not to "overdoing it." However, as usual I caution that I'm no doctor, just someone who had PMR and now, thankfully, am over it after a year of reductions.

For what it's worth, I recommend never reducing more than 1 mg. per month. (That is the rate recommended to me by a doc when I first started.) When you started at 10 mg therefore, it might have been best to reduce after four weeks to only 9 mg and to stay at that level for a month before reducing to 8 mg.

At the time of a reduction, you may find yourself feeling various pains, but I found after a few days they always receded enough for me to "carry on," as it were.

The only time I varied in reducing pred this way was toward the very end, when at about 3 mg I started the "slow, slow, almost stop" method of reduction. It took me to the end with no problems.

Good luck, and if you try the 1 mg per month method, let us know how it's working out. Meantime, all good wishes--Barbara

Yes, it's not good to jump from 10. To 7.5 so fast. I've been on 5mg for 

over two years, I tried to get off, or take every second day, I have been advised it takes months to cut down. Just the 4 weeks is too fast.

my legs, also hurt...