Increasing pred

[Jennykk]

Hi, I have been on 10mg for 2 months and the last week been gradually feeling worse. Until at the weekend I could hardly move and was reminded of the bad old days. I have increased to 11mg with some improvement. Just wondering how long I should stay at this dose before reducing again? Reading on here about not yo yoing the doses made me wary. Many thanks.

[polkadotcom]

Wait until you are comfortable on any dose before attempting a reduction and then make it a very small one. There are a lot of methods which use a very slow taper, and this has been found to be effective for many patients in that there are far fewer flares caused by reducing too far or too fast.

You may find that 11mg just won't cut the mustard with the PMR aches and pains, and if this is so, then increase enough (12.5mg?) to give you some relief. You may well find that once you are comfortable it is easier to reduce the dose and get back to where you were without any problems.

[Jennykk in reply to polkadotcom]

Thank you. I had been on 10 for a while and the pain returned out of the blue ie i was not reducing my dose. Just got the blood results from last week and my CRP has gone down but the pain up! I am seeing a Bowen therapist tomorrow and remain optimistic. The pain is a little better today.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If 10mg isn't enough to manage the symptoms and the PMR is flaring then you need more for long enough to get it under control. You can't reduce to a timetable - you need what you need and at the moment it is still more than 10mg. Surprisingly, it might be 10.5mg - half a mg can make a massive difference but first you need to get this flare under control before trying cautious small reductions.

It isn't known but it is very likely that the underlying autoimmune cause of the symptoms we call PMR waxes and wanes - you may manage to reduce when it is quiescent but then it wakes up again and you current dose is no longer enough.

Polkadotcom mentions slow reductions - here's one on here:

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

The other plan I mention can be had from the PMRGCAUK northeast group via their website. I can't send it to anyone at the moment - got the wrong computer!

[jinasc in reply to PMRpro]

email [e-mail], subject heading Reduction Plans.

Both will be sent to your free of charge by return.

[Jennykk in reply to jinasc]

Thank you so much .