Tapering

[MRSKI]

I am on 11mg prednisone

Should I go to 10.5 for my taper or 10 ?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Depends on how you feel and how your tapers have gone previously. What has been your regime up to now?

[MRSKI in reply to DorsetLady]

I started at 15, 12.5,11

Roughly at each dose 4 weeks

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to MRSKI]

If you’ve had no issues, then you could probably manage 10mg.

Some people then go to 0.5mg reductions - again on a monthly basis - but I managed to get down to 7mg before I started halving tablets and using my slow taper.

Once you get below 10mg you do need to be a bit more careful (bearing in mind the “not more 10% of current dose reduction” mantra) - and of course the nearer you get to your optimum level of Pred, the less “spare” you have sloshing about ready to catch any escaping inflammation.

It really is slowly slowly - to help your tapering go smoothly and allow your adrenal glands to start thinking about working again (roughly about 7.5mg Pred), They've been resting thanks to higher doses of Pred, and need a bit a gentle nudging to get going again.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Depends - try going to 10, if it doesn't work well you can go back and try the smaller step.

[Lindy-loo1949]

Hi! First, how long have you been on prednisone?

If it's been a long time, I would talk to my doctor before coming off.

If that's not an option, then bring it down very slowly. 1/2 milligram a week or every 2 weeks.

But if you feel in the least bit weird then stop bringing the dosage down and let your body get used to the dosage you are on.

More than anything, BE CAREFUL!!

[Michdonn]

Hi MRSKI, we are all different, but I would go to 10.5 and use DSNS, try not to reduce by more than 10%. Some people have reduce quickly, that did not work for me, nice and easy worked much better. Good luck on the rest of your PMR journey. 🙂

[Jackoh]

I’ve had to do it - 10.5 then 10.0 but as said on here we are all so different. You could try a drop to 10.0 first and if it doesn’t work then try the 10.5. I have always had problems reducing that’s why I’m now trying 10.5 to 10.0, using the very slow tapering method.