Prednisone masked peritonitis

Hello, new to this group. Have experience to share and would appreciate feedback on my situation. I was diagnosed with PMR over a year ago and put on 20 mg prednisone, which my MD said was a "low dose" which I could take for a year. Have learned this was not good advise. The pain subsided but never completely went away. I tried tapering off 2.5 mg at a time, and when I got to 12.5, the full pain came roaring back. My new MD put me on 40 mg to "blow it out." Pain left. One morning I woke up with debilitating stomach pain and low fever. It went away after about 4 hours. The next morning I had mild pain and while poking around discovered a hernia. Went to the emergency room to have it checked, they did a CT scan and found diverticulitis ( a hole in my colon) which was allowing bacteria into my abdominal cavity (peritonitis). They said it had nothing to do with the hernia - just a lucky coincidence, because had I not come in, I would have been dead within 48 hours. Everyone was totally amazed that I had walked in under my own power with minimal pain. Apparently the prednisone had masked the symptoms. Surgery involved removing 8" of colon and putting me on a colostomy bag for 3-4 months.  In the hospital, they brought me down from 40 mg prednisone with an IV version so I left with the equivalent of 20 mg oral. Started tapering off and again extreme pain came back about 12.5 mg. Went back to 17.5 which brought the pain to a bearable level and am now trying to go down 1 mg per week. Have a (first) rheumatologist appointment in 3 weeks. My MD is sympathetic but out of her depth. Glad to have found this site. Thank you.

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