Tapering off Presnosone with GCA.

[Ryliefew123dogcat]

Hello Ladies need your help again as l an trying to taper down on my pred medicine. I do not have PMR at the moment thank God. I have been down to 20mg for a month now and seemed to be ok but the last week have had a sore temple and my eyes are bleary and sore.l really don't want to go back up again as the pred medicine has not been good to me. Is there a difference in tapering for GCA than PMR. l am going to talk to my GP but felt l should consult you first.l won't be seeing my reumy till late September.

Hope you can help.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

What in particular do you mean is there any difference?

The only real difference is, with GCA your reductions down to around 20 or 25mg can be bigger ( but you should still have in mind the not more than 10% of current dose advice).

Once you get to around 20mg then some can achieve 17.5-15-12.5 -10mg - but not everybody. So if you are one of those - you should be thinking of 1mg a time - certainly from 15mg (at that dose 10% is 1.5mg).

Below 10mg then you need to be thinking smaller reductions.

The lower you get, the more difficult reducing CAN become - - and the less “spare” Pred you have sloshing around your system! So you may be able to reduce from 40mg to 35mg without a problem, you certainly can’t reduce from 10mg to 5mg.

Whilst you may not want to increase - you may find going up a couple of mg might sort your problem if you catch it quickly.

Can you get advice from Rheumy by phone?

[Ryliefew123dogcat in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you for your quick reply. I think l will go up a couple of mgs for a while and see if it helps. My reumy always takes a long time to get back to me so don't have

great faith in him. Always good to try you first. You guys are awesome. Thank you again DorsetLady.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Ryliefew123dogcat]

No probs. There certainly is a lot of experience on here and we know what the Rheumy thinks we can do, is not always achieveable.

Take care - and hope the extra works. If it doesn’t - you may have to persevere with Rheumy!

[Theziggy]

Ladies???

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If you are still on 20mg you are unlikely to experience any PMR symptoms - that should be plenty to keep it under control.

[Ryliefew123dogcat]

Hi everyone l think l am getting a relapse as l have been back on 22halfmgs for a week now and not feeling good at all. Bleary eyes fatigue sweats and general flu feeling. I think l should go back to 25mgs. What do you think?. We have a long weekend in Canada this week so won't be seeing my doctor till next week. Very disheartening. Hope you can help.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Ryliefew123dogcat]

I suggest you repost this as a new thread - more people will see it then.

[Ryliefew123dogcat in reply to PMRpro]

How do l repost?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Ryliefew123dogcat]

At the top right of the top of this thread is a blue box with a pen image and saying "Write". Click on that and a new post page should come up.

[Pippah45]

I am not the most experienced but please remember your eyesight is at risk with GCA. I don't like pred either but my eyesight trumps everything for me. These wonderful people have helped me no end about tapering more slowly than Rheumy is saying!