Enduring pred. vs. how much pain?

Julian, that describes my feelings almost perfectly.  I think, however, that perhaps you and I are among a fortunate group which can do this.  And unlike Tinaj it took me just over a year to get to 3 mg from start at 15 where I've discovered I need to stay for a while.  We are all different, and I think Tinaj marks one extreme on the spectrum, you and I are fortunately fairly near that end, there are others in the middle who take longer to achieve a low dose, and at the other end of the spectrum are those who have to stay at higher doses for far longer.  Perhaps in part it has something to do with our particular sensitivity to prednisone.  I felt very early on, even before tests proved it, that pred was subtly robbing me of my good health, which seems strange as it also gave me back my life!  Therefore it became imperative to reduce to the lowest possible dose as efficiently as I could.  But I could not have stopped pred altogether.  And, yes, I am one of those who almost obsessively is careful of diet and exercise and has used some alternative therapies.  I still have PMR and if I were to come off pred I know within a week or two I'd be crippled again. 

I think I've mentioned a few times I think I'm lucky.

Just a small example. I mentioned the pain in my wrists. The day after I mentioned it I had anniversary coronary stress echo test. Tuesday here. No obvious problems but perversely after gasping for breath while they probed me with ultrasound after elevating heart rate to max (just another 10 seconds they said .....) the wrist pain is much reduced.

Not a treatment I'd recommend but adds to the suspicion that if the pmr pain is a result of things that aren't removed due to inflamed blood vessels moving the blood faster may have a beneficial effect, though of course the opposite effect can occur with repetitive movements of effected muscles.

A couple of days later the pain is back a bit but not as bad. Not as intrusive. Though I'm not sure if carrying groceries into the house today was such a good idea.

A year ago I noticed similar with the coronary rehab. I thought I was lucky I didn't create a flare, instead I got to use the muscles that had deteriorated in the earlier part of pmr and regain a heap of fitness.

I was a bit understated about the pred side effects. It messed with my head. I was very keen to stop but couldn't bear the thought of a return to untreated pain. But as you say, lucky I could reduce relatively fast, and lucky my wife is still talking to me.

A spectrum is a nice image for me. I spent a large slice of my professional life refusing to put things in little boxes. I tend to look for aspects that are the same rather than different. So yes, for some it takes longer than others, for some its more painful than others, for some the pred side effects are more intrusive. And we are all different colours in the spectra.

"regardless of what your CRP or ESR levels are"

That remark is both interesting and disturbing at the same time.  My nurse practitioner for example said that my inflamation level is down, but apparently those are secondary markers for the illness, yes?  I'd like to think it implies that I have a good shot at some reduction (I'm starting DSNS) but its markers like interleukin 6 that matter, isn't it...you know, the ones Rheumy's don't bother to measure when you have PMR.

Interesting point.  I wonder if any studies have been done to determine whether measuring the things which actually cause the inflammation gives a better picture of disease activity, or whether it's too variable to be useful.

PMR is an interesting beast - there is no one 'test' to prove or disprove its presence. You can have one or many of the markers and one or many of the symptoms.

 First and foremost I use the 'how do I feel' test. The blood markers are only an indication that there is inflammation in your body, they don't tell you anything about how the disease is manifesting at any given time. AND, just to be contrary - your blood markers don't have to be raised to have PMR! 

My guess is yes, but it's too variable! How do you know what's causing inflammation at any given time?

Oxy was my go to when I had to get off pred for another illness.  Its a poor substitute for pred when it comes to PMR, but if you'd come in between me and my bottle of it, we'd have come to blows...lol.