Sally
I was diagnosed in Jan. with this disease, and was immediately put on prednisone as I was almost totally incapacitated. Within 12 hours I had almost complete relief. I started out with 20mg once a day at 3 PM as the rheumatologist told me that is the best time according to your biological body clock, and he was absolutely right. At the end of Feb, because my sed rate was going down, I was allowed to start decreasing by 1mg every 2 weeks. I now am down to 10mg. When I get down to 5mg I will be on a maintenance dosage for about 2 years. This disease is not plesant by any means. Your damned if you do take the pill and damned if you don't. It's a miracle how fast it take away the pain, but the side effects are the bloating and weight gain. This disease primarily affects women over the age of 55-60. I was 66 when this happened and was a classic case as it was in my shoulders and hips. I hope this helps and I would be happy to correspond with you.