I was diagnosed with it about 4 months ago and the Rheumatologist put me on Prednisone which stopped the pain within 12 hrs. They are now trying to taper my dosage each month with varying degrees of success. Ive gained @ 30# at this point and starting to notice some of the other side effects. Just wondering if anybody had personal experience with how long it really takes to be able to get off this medicine. The Dr said usually 1-2 years but could be a little less or a lot more. There is a new medicine out that you can give yourself as an injection every 14 days that is supposed to have a lot fewer side effects, but the cost is astronomical. Even though my insurance would pay most of the cost, I would rather give the steroids a try first.