Bad flairup

[chullerman]

I have had a bad flairup pains everywhere and decided to increase from 5 to 7 mgs on my own as I am not back rumy till next AUGUST I did try to reduce over the summer but to no avail am I doing this right, will hopefully drop down again.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Many doctors recommend going back to 5mg above your current dose for a few days until the symptoms have gone and then returning to the last dose at which you felt well.

If you haven't managed to reduce there are two possibilities: one is that you have reached the dose that is controlling your symptoms (the underlying autoimmune disorder that causes the PMR symptoms is still active, pred only manages things) or that you tried to reduce in too large steps or too quickly (ie too often).

Around this dose often poses problems as it is about the amount of steroid your body would produce normally and now your body has to remember how to produce some of its own - that takes time. When you get back to 5mg stick there for a while - some top experts like to keep people at 5mg for several months before continuing a reduction for the reason I just gave.

The other question is how long have you been on pred?

[optimist-ok]

Hello chullerman. When I had a flare on 5mg I had to double the dose to 10mg. Did the trick! Good luck.