Nancy
I started prednisone 10/24/00. My hip and thigh pain started after reducing my prednisone from 20mg to 15mg. I do believe the drop was too drastic, and my sed rate in the subsequent month only went down 5 points when the prednisone was again reduced by 2 1/2mg. since being on 12 1/2mg prednisone my set rate has been creeping back up. 1 point a month, never too high, mid thirties, but still high, and because of a steroid shot in the hip by my internist to try to relieve some local pain, which didn't work, my sed rate took a dip to 21 which made my new rhumy believe my PMR was under control and the prednisone was reduced to 10mg and now shoulder and arm pain is returning. Sorry for all the details, but seeing it all in print seems to clarify a lot for me. I think my problem is a too quick reduction in prednisone.