My 80+ mom on her 3rd round of Prednisone in less than a year.

If your mother has fibromyalgia, prednisone will not have any effect. If the prednisone is working it means she has something else. What are her symptoms? Where is the pain? You could look up polymyalgia rheumatica and see if the symptoms are similar to what she has. The fact that she is getting relief at a fairly low dose, around 20mg, of prednisone could mean it is PMR.  If it is she will need to take prednisone long term not in short bursts.

Does she have weight loss, night sweats and bad stiffness of muscles that getting up in morning is diffucult?

Gabapentin is for skin rash related to post herpetic neuralgia/shingles. Does she have this? 

I doubt they think they has fibromyalgia - it does NOT respond to pred at all. It is possible that they think she has polymyalgia rheumatica - which DOES respond and in fact pred is the only drug that manages it at present.

However - it is a chronic illness and cannot be treated the way the pred is being used for your mother. It requires years. Here is a link to all the reading material we have collected on the PMR forum:

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316

It may not be the pred that is damaging her sight - there is an associated illness called GCA that causes blindness if untreated.

But the doctors are causing more trouble by trying to treat her like that - you need a doctor who knows what they are doing. They don't since it really does sound like PMR if she responds so well to pred.

A few weeks back there was a very interesting and informative discussion here about Prednisolone and how to taper from it. What is evident is that doctors have people come off this very powerful drug far too quickly. The consensus among people who have to take the drug periodically for a variety of reasons is that it has to be done VERY slowly, that one should never reduce by more than 10% of the previous week’s dose. Reducing from 20mg to 15mg, 10mg, 0 is a 25% reduction, a 33% reduction and then 100% reduction.

While on Prednisolone, the adrenal glands stop producing cortisol naturally and they need to be coaxed into performing their natural function again.  Too fast and the adrenal glands won’t be doing their job - adrenal insufficiency. Many people of ALL ages experience extreme fatigue during this period with debilitating pain in the bones and joints. Factor in your mother’s age and whatever condition she has may be made worse by tapering off the steriods too quickly.

Another thing that emerged during the discussion was that too fast a reduction can shock the body into a quick return of the initial symptoms.

It is very well documented that Prednisole can cause problems with the heart, diabetes, bones and eyes. I am very surprised that a doctor is prescribing this drug for fibromyalgia, agree with other contributors that it is used in polymyalgia although the benefits have to be weighed against these other risks.

Your mother needs a proper diagnosis and it needs to be established exactly which symptoms are related to the condition itself and which relate to the effects of the steroid withdrawal. Please do not underestimate the latter as steroid withdrawal can leave one debilitated and in pain for months and in a very elderly person could seem overwhelming.

I’m 20 years younger than your mother and have to take Prednisolone periodically for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. I have learned what a wonderful drug this is for controlling symptoms quickly but how awful the side effects and withdrawal period can be. A flare can last a week but the recuperation from the steriods can take three months or more of bone pain and exhaustion.