Prednisolone tapering pre Cimzia

[Lapwing51]

I've been on Prednisolone for rheumatoid arthritis for 8 months. Was down to 8mg but increased to 15mg 4 weeks ago to reduce inflammation before a hand op, now done and healing. I've been accepted for Cimzia. What level of Prednisolone is 'safe' for starting Cimzia and at what rate can I taper to it?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Is this where you mean to be? This is a specialist forum for polymyalgia rheumatica not rheumatoid arthritis.

Your doctor will tell you what level of pred is safe for Cimzia (no-one here will be on it, it is just for RA) but the tapering of the pred will not pose a problem to about 7mg, below that you may have to go a bit slower to be sure that your adrenal function returns well - it is suppressed by pred doses above about that level. Most people get to 5mg easily enough and some people never have a problem.

[Lapwing51 in reply to PMRpro]

Oh, oh! I'll go seek an RA foruum instead. Thanks for the info all the same.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lapwing51]

No problem - we'd have given you an answer if any of us took it.