Tapering struggles

[meelfyn]

I currently take methotrexate weekly and a daily dose of prednisolone for my

RA my symptoms have reduced markedly and I have been instructed to reduced my prednisolone to zero from a daily dose of 15mg. I have managed to get to 4mg with little difficulty and no real problems at that level but 3mg a day is proving to be difficulty and painful. I reverted to 4mg a day for a week and symptoms disappeared I am now back on 3mg and struggling. Should I persevere for a few weeks on 3mg plus taking some 500mg Naproxen tablets as when required and stop trying to get to Zero.

Any advice and experience would we gratefully received.

PS. I am 81 years old and diagnosed with RA in February 2020.

[helixhelix]

What dose of MTX are you on? Maybe you should discuss with doc whether that needs togo up as the pred comes down?

Some of the tapering schedules suggest alternating doses to help you get down. So 3mg, 4mg, 3mg etc until that is stable and only then stay on 3mg.

[meelfyn in reply to helixhelix]

weekly dose of 20mg

[helixhelix in reply to meelfyn]

Oh well, it was a thought. Probably don’t want to go higher than that!

But if you were only diagnosed in Feb perhaps needs to ask about reviewing meds as maybe a different combination would suit you better?

[Hidden]

Talk to your RA team mine noted with me that I need 5mg minimum or nothing. This is based on what happens when on it and not on it. If I only take 3mg I feel nothing and no improvement,

However I do try to get off Pred as soon as possible but will take me a few weeks to get back off as on high dose of 40mg last week.

[Egpa1]

Hi, i have been on prednisolone for over 3 years and am trying to taper off them at present, my consultant told me to drop one mg a month, i am now down to 3mg per month this one has been the hardest so far, hope to drop to zero and just to take 25mg jab of methotrexate a week. Good luck.

[Ruth12345]

Im now down to 4mg 1 day 3mg 2 days for 2 weeks, as I couldnt manage to drop from 4mg to 3mg. Then ill go from 3mg 2 days to 3mg 3 days every 2 weeks etc etc and hopefully that will work. I was down to 5 mg at Christmas and had no trouble getting to 4mg but now it seems I need to go more slowly. I had a fone appt with rheumy about 3 weeks ago and he said to go very very slowly and it could take a year to get from 5mg to nothing. He said hurrying is counter productive.

Thats my experience so far.

All the best.

[KittyJ in reply to Ruth12345]

Keep at it Ruth, this is what I did after nearly 30 years on pred. Very, very slowly but it took nearly a year and I had tried three times before to come off but finally managed it last year. 🤞🏻 for you.

[Ruth12345 in reply to KittyJ]

Thankyou.

I am quite happy to stay on them as I'm 62 and has given me a quality of life I can hope with. However I know that's not how it's ment to be due to side affects.

[meelfyn in reply to Ruth12345]

Thanks for that I will give it a go.

[Ruth12345 in reply to meelfyn]

Yes as I say slowly slowly. All the best.

[Knit12]

Discuss with your doc

[medway-lady]

At 81 I'd not worry about it. Live your life as well as you can. Mind you that only a view point, if it was me. It took me months to reduce down to Zero slowly is the key so perhaps 4 one day then 3 the next then 3 alone then same pattern 3 and 2. Best of luck whatever you decide.

[meelfyn in reply to medway-lady]

Thank you for the good advice.

[Hidden in reply to meelfyn]

I did something similar to Medway Lady. It took months to get down from 5 to nothing. I alternated 5 and 4 for 2 weeks, then had 4 daily for 2 weeks, then alternated 4 and 3 for 2 weeks , then 3 daily and so on. No bad effects. Take it slowly. Good luck!

[meelfyn]

Many thanks for the help, obviously slowly does it is the message and that is what I will do.

[Dodo1943]

I requested Prednisolone 1mg tablets, thereby enabling successful tapering by 1mg per month without any problems.