Week 11

[Chevypickup]

Down to 12 1/2 mg from 40 mg. My appointment with the rhumatology is May 07 if the covid 19 slows down, they are shut down now because of it. The plan was to go down to 10 mg by Apirl 07th. Then stay on 10 mg unit I see her then go from there. I noticed some stiff back and knees with a little pain. Would that be normal? What would be the warning signs that I should keep a eye on.

[SheffieldJane]

Definitely symptoms to keep an eye on, once a couple of days have passed and you’ve dismissed withdrawal symptoms. I would be inclined to stick at 10 - see how you go, perhaps until May. Keep a note of your symptoms. We are all going to have to self manage to an extent. Tiny drops from now. Maybe 0.5 mgs. Half a tab.

[Blearyeyed]

When you reach 10 mg it is a plateau. It is a point when any other pain issues you may have are no longer masked by the dose of your steroids so you can find that you feel more non PMR related nerve , joint or muscle pain.

Especially if you already had any pain issues before you had PMR .

Reaching 10 mg it is a good time to really take note of any symptoms that occur after the usual 3-5 days of withdrawal symptoms.

It is a good dose to have a wait of a month before you taper again to restore and rebuild the body and judge if any of your PMR issues will increase again.

Take note of the Pain you are having . See if they are improved by taking Paracetamol or using heat pads , joint lotion , light joint rotation exercise or ice.

Try using a vitamin/ mineral supplement and Omega 3 , magnesium in the diet or as a lotion may also improve the issues you are having.

If you begin to recognise those symptoms as the PMR symptoms that you had before , and things worsen despite trying other pain relief and self care you may need to consider returning to your previous steroid dose , especially at the moment when it may not be possible to see a GP and see the root cause of the problem.

If you symptoms settle it may be a good idea to reduce by 0.5 mg on each taper as SJ suggests.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Any chance of reducing by 1mg at a time? That may show more clearly if the niggles you are feeling are steroid withdrawal or a return of symptoms. Steroid withdrawal will improve over time but a return of symptoms will steadily get worse.

[Charlie1boy]

Hi,

I can but endorse what SheffieldJane and Blearyeyed have said about being at 10mg.

My experience at this level was that I got down to 10 mg relatively quickly in 6 months. It was another four months before I felt able to taper down to 9 mg, and from then on it was always only at a half mg at a time. It seems that 10 mg is not an easy time, and even more patience than usual is called for.

Good luck

Paddy

[Tahiri]

Does know because mine is GSA