Amazed at how 1/2 mg of prednisone can affect me

[Linny3]

I Have been struggling to get from 15mg to 14 &1/2mg. Doing it very slowly.

I was on 14&1/2mg for 2 days. By end of second day I could hardly move my hips and arm hurt. I took the 1/2 mg and within 2 hours it all cleared out.

It is just so hard to believe that 1/2 mg could make such a difference, but it does.

Very discouraged. Been trying for over a 2 months. Been on 15mg for most of the 5years that I have had pmr.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

If I had a quid for every post saying this - and I wrote one of them!!!!!

[jinasc in reply to PMRpro]

Can I and DL share please as you would be a zillionaire😈

[Constance13 in reply to jinasc]

Wow! Had to look up zillionaire. Never heard of it!

[jinasc in reply to Constance13]

You can share as well.........although PMRpro could hire the poshest hotel or the biggest pub and we could all go..........👿🥂🥂🥃

[Constance13 in reply to jinasc]

Trump Tower maybe?🤪

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Constance13]

Wash your mouth out woman!!!!! Don't think we have one here in Italy anyway ...

[jinasc in reply to Constance13]

Yikes 👎👎👎👎👎

[nuigini in reply to Constance13]

Noooooooooooooo.

[Meggsy]

Libby, if the pain came on the second day, could it just be pred withdrawal and not PMR. Just a thought!

[Bridgegoddess]

Hi

I had a lot of trouble reducing I was at

11. twice but had to go all the way up to 15 both times to reduce the pain So I started reducing by 1/2 rather than 1 mg I used a modified version of the method suggested on this site Back to original for a few days, then lower dose , going up and down gradually add more lower dose days I was still able to reduce a total of 1 mg per month I am now going from

9 to 8.5 and I find it makes it so much easier I keep a daily log of dosage and a synopsis of how I feel That helps to know how my reduction is affecting me day by day I still have pain and stiffness when I wake up , but it is tolerable Stick with it

[nuigini]

I'm in the same boat with you Linny! Seven years for me and I just managed to get from 14.5 to 14 after a flare a few months back that took me to 17 mg. I've been reducing by .5 for years. I've made it to 10 mg twice, but never for very long. Now, it appears I may be cursed with long haul covid after having a mild case of the coronavirus in January! The major symptoms are muscle pain and stiffness and fatigue. The PMR puzzle was complex enough on it's own, now it's just insane trying to figure things out.

[Linny3 in reply to nuigini]

I am so sorry to hear you had covid. I have been worried about it with pmr. 7 years is a long time but I fear I may be looking at the same time frame. Sure is frustrating. Thanks for responding

[pugrescue]

I had GCA only. Not too many adventures on tapering, but when I tried to get from 1mg to 1/2, just felt awful. 20 months from 50 to 1mg, and now 3 different attempts at 2 wk intervals to go to 1/2! I got so fed up as it realy seemed more adrenal than a return of GCA symptoms. I know it is not generally recommended but thought I would give a try by taking 1mg every other day. First day at zero mg I felt better than I had for at least 6 wks. So I trued another day at zero and now have been off pred since end of Oct. Not to say I didn't have fatigue and some days of just generally feeling lousy, but never once felt as if GCA was returning. Had cortisol level checked mid Feb and it was high end of normal. Still doing well, and glad I persevered. Foe some unknown reason after I hit 5mg I just woke up one morning and thought "I am over this"......silly I know, but I guess I was right as I went fro 5 to 1mg by tapering 1/2 every 2wks. I was lucky, and recipient of many prayers.