New Gp

[Rosbud]

My GP off sick so being due for telephone consult was phoned by duty GP , very helpful but wanted me to drop from 15-12.5 , when I told her I was concerned as last time I tried this I had A flare she has decided 14 for 2 weeks then 13 for 2 weeks , I then have to see her and she will decide how to carry on the taper , does this regime seem feasible to the rest of the fabulous people on this forum ?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi Rosbud,

Sounds doable, but if at the end of either fortnight if you don’t feel as you should then give it a few more days. Most people can manage 1mg drops from 15mg to 10mg. But if in doubt- stop.

Good luck.

[Rosbud in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank DL , will keep this in mind , hoping she will be reasonable about slow tapering x

[PMRpro Ambassador]

More feasible than the previous suggestion!!

Are you well at present? As well as you can be? How long have you been at 15mg?

Mind you - far from sure that reducing just before Christmas is a really good idea! But you can but try.

[Rosbud in reply to PMRpro]

Am well , well not to bad still waking with pain and stiffness but once Intake my pred it settles , have been on 15 for 5 weeks , I'm aiming to have A stress free Xmas and hopefully that will ease things down X Thank you for your advice x

[Sandy1947]

I had the same situation. Tried to get from 15 to 14. Three weeks later with lots of neck, arm and leg pain I’m back at 15. I will stay there for a month. I told my Dr. and she approved. There is no rush especially at holiday time. Give yourself a break and follow forum advise...pace, rest and taper according to your needs.

[Rosbud in reply to Sandy1947]

Thanks for your reply , pleased to know I'm not on my own x

[Rugger]

Rosbud, I stayed on my starting dose of 15mg for 2 months (GP had said 3!), then a month on 13mg, a month on 12mg, 2 weeks on 11mg, then 2 months on 10mg, due to symptoms.

When I got to single figures I did the DSNS taper at 1mg a month and still had a flare at 4mg! Back up to 10mg and now VERY SLOWLY tapering to 7mg at 0.5mg a month this time.

We're all different, but just shared that to say "Slow but sure" is the motto.

Click on my name to see all this in graphical form, if you're interested!

How about printing or writing out one of the taper schedules to show your GP. I did that and mine was very interested, as he'd not come across it before. See the pinned post on the right of this page for the Steroid Taper Web Application with numerous different schedules to choose from!

[Rosbud in reply to Rugger]

Thanks , I'll print out the tapering dsns schedule to show Gp when I see her, I started on 15 for 4 weeks then drop to 12.5 but after 3 weeks Gp put me back to 20 as I was worse than when I started so am now starting tapering all over again , so fingers crossed xx