Currently on 10mg pred (down from a start point of 15mg in August last year). Half at bedtime and half in the morning.
Seems to be working ok. Actually been feeling reasonably chipper for the last week / ten days. Arm pain largely gone. Pins and needles in my feet waking me up at 6.00 every morning is bizarrely the main 'problem' although not really a problem at all in the scheme of things of course.
I have dropped 1mg per month so am looking to perhaps drop to 9mg on 1st February. However i am conscious of advice on this forum recommending slow tapering, so i have been looking for a link to a suggested dose / timeline strategy. Without success.
Could i trouble you for a link please. I seem to remember that Dorset Lady has posted some options previously ?
I am kind of thinking that 1/2mg doses are a bit of faff but i dont want to start going backwards again, so will do as i am told....probably.
Best wishes to all
Nick
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NickWarwick
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Hi There,I went down in half mg from 10mg - couldn't believe how much difference a half makes.
Get yourself a pill cutter from a pharmacy, and you should find cutting the 1mg in half is no "faff" at all..you may get away with 1mg drops at the moment, but as you get lower, I think the half mg drop will be the way to go.
Organising lots of 1mg tablets as opposed to 2x 5mg every day definitely looks like a faff but i am sure Mellors in Swan Street and the Priory Rd GPs can cope.
Hi Nick, I dropped in 1mg doses until I got to 6mg and from then onwards I dropped in 0.5mg doses. Between 10mg and 7mg, I would alternate the current and the new (lower) dose for a week and then just stay on the lower dose for 4 weeks. From 7mg to 5mg I used DL method, the longer, 6-week one. I stayed on 5mg for another 4 weeks feeling fine. From 5mg to 4.5mg, I did a version of DSNS method where I repeated some steps several times until I felt completely happy with how I felt. I took my last 5mg today and will be on 4.5mg for a week and see how I feel. Slower method was a lot more comfortable, but, at least in my case, not necessary at higher doses. I was rubbish at cutting 5mg pills and I now get 2.5mg and 1mg pills on prescriptions from my GP. I should be fine until I get below 2mg. But knowledgable people on this forum told me not to fret if my cut pills are not exactly halfs.
I am not sure about pins and needles, but I did have some nigh-time cramps which stopped once I started taking Magnesium at bedtime.
I am now in my 5th day of tapering from 2mg tp 1.5mg, I don't worry about my pill cutter doing slightly uneven halves, as in the 2 days I will get the full amount. So far, so good. Stay well
Thanks very much for posting that tapering link, PMRpro.
My GP recently whopped me back up to my original 15 mg (I had got down to 2mg!). On reflection, and following recent blood tests, I’m now unsure if my problems at 2mg were maybe not caused by the Pred reduction but actually symptoms of me having a low sodium count.
I’m now down to 10mg and feel fine on all accounts now, so when I get down to 5 then I’ll look at your tapering programme.
From 10mg I tapered 0.5mg a month with minimum aches aside from the settling in pangs I usually get for 2-3 days. This is of course against the wishes of my Rheumy who wanted me tapering 1mg per month come hell or high water. My previous posts have illuminated his lack of a decent bedside manner.
Due to see him in 3 weeks and dreading the scolding even though by then I would be down to 6.5mg. He sees anything outside of the (too fast) taper he's written to be a failure even though I feel I'm doing quite well.
Hang in there, go 0.5mg for your taper. Best of luck xx
I also went against my' expert''s advice after persuading my GP to a very slow taper over 8 weeks per mg. I am halfway through getting from 8mg to 7mg and will probably go even slower when I get to 5mg. Better safe than sorry (provided my GP agrees, which I expect he will). The proof is in the experience: I get only very minor pains, occasionally, in my buttocks and that could be sitting too much during lockdown.
As for rheumies - he told me to go from 10mg to 71/2 mg in one go. No way. I thought I'd sacked him but he didn't go and said he'd call about now. I don't dread him any more, he can go fly his kite (politely of course).
Hi I too am trying to taper down from 10mg, and I also take half the dose in the morning and half in the evening. My GP is keen for me to come down and then off pred, so am I but not so easy! I have been on 10mg since the start (Oct 2019) and 3 times I have tried to come down to 9mg. Every time I think I am doing ok, then it gets to day 5 and I am so stiff, the day is written off and I cannot cope, the last time was last week. Now I am trying 9.5 mg with the lesser dose in the evening, this is day onem so we will see! Let me know how you get on
Morning Nick. I thought I was reading my own story there!
Like you, I started off on 15mg last March, gradually reducing to 2 and then I felt totally unwell. On reflection now, it probably wasn’t the Pred reduction (who knows), as in fact my last blood test showed I had a low sodium count (I’d been drastically reducing salt intake to up my kidney function) and I think the sodium loss was maybe making me feel grotty.
Anyway, my kidney function is way back up now and my gp has told me to now eat as normal.
Sorry, I’ve rambled on! But my GP put me back onto 15 when I felt unwell and now I’m gradually tapering back down (on 10 now for a week then 7.5). When I get to 5 mg I’ll definitely in be tapering at 0.5 intervals this time. As my GP told me, there’s no hard & fast rule in all this: what works for one won’t work for everyone.
Hi Nick, I am in the process of tapering myself. Went from 15 mg to 10mg 1mg drop at a time, every two weeks. Then I stayed on 10mg for a month, saw the doc, got new blood work which looked good. Then I started tapering 1/2mg at a time starting with 2 weeks between. Got to 9 mg and occasionally had tiny reminders of what I went through before diagnosis so waited until they were gone for at least a week before dropping another 1/2mg. I am currently on 8.5 after 3 weeks at 9, and doing it this way I have been fine. If I feel a tiny bit achy in the old places I just stay at that level until I don't feel it any more. I am 78 so not wanting to take chances on side effects of Pred. any longer than necessary. I only started on Pred. in mid June 2020.
Good luck with your tapering, slow and easy is worth it.
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