Tapering prednisone

[Boyd0222]

2 years ago I was diagnosed with PMR. When my doctor gave me prednisone it was like an instant cure. We started with 40mg and have tapered to 8mg. I have felt great and normal until I tapered to 7. I went back to 8 but that didn’t help. I decided to try the 7 for 3 weeks then try 6. I am acutely aware of the symptoms during tapering and usually manage them fine. The odd thing is now I feel fine until I take the prednisone each day. One day I forgot to take it. I never even noticed. But as soon as I take the prednisone each day I can hardly function. I am wondering out loud, does this mean I do not need the prednisone any more? Why would I feel fine before taking it each day and then feel awful the rest of the day. Suddenly I grow tired and dizzy, my heart races and I feel unable to stand for very long? After 6 or 8 hours I begin to feel ok.

Has anyone experienced this or have any ideas? Is it too much prednisone, too little, can I just stop even though all research says do it gradually? Should I continue to taper?

Thank you for listening I love this forum

Marsha Mason

[PMRpro Ambassador]

First of all - no you must not just stop the pred after being on it for a long time, you must wean off it slowly so that your body's natural production of corticosteroid is able to go back to normal, and that takes time. If you just stop suddenly you could become very unwell and end up in hospital.

Is there any chance that you getting to this dose coincided with the prednisone being from a different manufacturer? Some people do get this sort of feeling after taking their pred but usually it is there all the time, at higher doses too. I know a few who took their pred in the evenng before going to bed so that they slept through this feeling awful period.

[Boyd0222]

Oh thank you. I am going to check the manufacturers. That happened to me with synthroid. Thank you so much for suggesting this. I have tried taking it later but will also try that again. I usually take it in the morning because it kept me awake but at 4-7mg it might not. Thank you very much.

[alangg]

It might be worth splitting your dose if taking it all at once causes the problem. I've learnt from this site that people absorb the pred at different rates and so taking some in the evening and then some in the morning might solve the staying awake issues and the pred rush issues that you describe.