Advice please

[Joanbill13]

Started pred 15mg sept 2019 for pmr and now tapered down to 10mg last 7 days. In some pain and taking paracetamol but have aching pain in lower tummy and pins and needles at times in my face. Also slight headache. Is this part of tapering

[SnazzyD]

Hello. It’s not a pattern I recognise but perhaps others will. I would see a doc in case the lower abdo pain is something else, for example a bladder infection which can also make one feel very out of sorts. Another possibility is that you are someone who doesn’t absorb all of the dose which may be putting you into the area of dose where your adrenal glands need to start working a bit but have still not got the memo. Are the pins and needles in one area?

[Joanbill13 in reply to SnazzyD]

Thanks for reply. Mostly on the left side of my face which feels very puffy compared to the the other side.. Hope the moonface goes soon.

[SnazzyD in reply to Joanbill13]

Uneven puffiness has come up on this forum before and I certainly had one side worse than the other. Some people have said that the hump on their back from Pred feels uncomfortable too. You could mention it if you go to the doc

[SheffieldJane]

I suspect that dropping by 5 mgs in 7 days was too quick. At your stage I was dropping 1 mg over two week period. Then I would start dropping from 14 mgs at a similar speed, and so on. I think I avoided some of those weird symptoms and I didn’t flare. I would mention the pins and needles in your face to the doctor though, that is quite unusual, probably your body protesting about the sudden loss of Cortisol though.

[Joanbill13 in reply to SheffieldJane]

Thanks for your reply. I seem to worry about everything just now. My face is very puffy and feels horrible.

[SheffieldJane in reply to Joanbill13]

Me too Joanbill13. As PMRPro says, check with your doctor whether you can increase a bit, as you could have landed at a too low dose. Then use one of the slow tapers pinned on this forum. One of the beauties of a slow taper is that you are more likely to find your lowest possible dose and not skip it. This whole forum is for people who worry about all aspects of these diseases and the drugs. You are in good company.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

How did you reduce from 15mg to 10mg? Have you been reducing monthly since September or did your doctor tell you to drop in one step from 15 to 10 a week ago?

I don't recognise those as possibly being due to tapering per se but they could be signs you are now at too low a dose - not the same thing though.

[Joanbill13 in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for reply. I seem to worry about every single pain and twinge now since pmr. Did 4 weeks tapering 15 -12.5. Now doing 12.5 - 10 but mostly 10 now. Odd bad days I go back to 12.5 and take paracetamol.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Joanbill13]

Good idea.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Joanbill13]

That's OK then - but you must remember that the underlying cause of the PMR is still there chugging away in the background and possibly the jump to 10mg is a bit too far too soon. Maybe just creeping down 1mg at a time might suit you better - everyone reacts differently and 2.5mg is above the recommended 10% at a time.

This link is basically about fatigue - but I find I hurt more when tired and maybe you need to learn to pace a bit better.

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk......

[Joanbill13 in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you appreciate your help