Hey Joseph... I too have terrible joint pain... Before I was dx'd, just thought that it was arthritis... due to my age & size (I'm old and tall).. However, since my disease went into overdrive, my joint pain has spread and worsened.. No longer just in the joints I've damaged over the years (i.e. broken knee, crushed ankle, etc., etc..) but it now has spread to my 'good' joints... esp. good knee, hips, fingers & neck... I'm not on steroids. (altho this is a common side effect of those drugs, despite being drug of choice if you get osteo or rheumatoid arthritis - go figure.. maybe the connection has been made in the past via anecdotal evidence). My pains worsen with a flare... decrease with activity, are unaffected by weather.
I have found that I can feel (temperature wise) the inflamation in these joints. to me, I can sense an increase in temperatre, akin to a fever localized to the joint in question... It's not psychosomatic, I've had others feel the joints and be able to tell me which ones were hurting... I've had doctors examine these joints, but my luck (or misfortune) has been that every time I get to see a doctor, the affected joints are not flaring at the time... although the last one saw evidence of it.. (what
he saw he didn't divulge, but he knew which of my fingers gave me the most pain).
Long story short.. I have some similar symptoms... Every case is different. Talk it over with your doctor.. If the pred you are taking is working, the joint pain may or may not improve if you decrease the dosage... unless you believe that it might. (I think the brain is a powerful tool - if you become convinced you'll have less joint pain by reducing your pred.., your brain may talk your body into believing it.. which
may adversely affect your progress).. I just deal with the joint pain, try to walk it off when I can, suffer with it when I can't, and toss it off as the price of going after a cure/control/remission.. I see it as an added reason to sticking with my diet, etc..
