GP wanting to know my current dose of Pred. 4 1/2mg. GP says I have been on steroids for 3 +years and I need to come off. Taper by 1 a month. Told her not always that easy and I would stick to 1/2 whenever not always a month. Asked to have 2 1/2 mg pred put back on my repeat prescription. Was told they are not allowed to prescribe 2 1:2 anymore. When I asked if I could just have plain uncoated she checked and said yes. Enteric are not to be prescribed . Now I have to be in a rush to get to zero 🤣🤣🤣 she thinks. Most people get off steroids in 2 years ?????
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Suffererc
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“Most people get off steroids in 2 years ?????”....
Well if you believe most guidelines, they may do - but that doesn’t mean everybody does! Plus, in the small print, even the guidelines say it’s not achievable for all, trouble is most doctors don’t read that far...they just scan the (sometimes misleading) headlines!
Stick to your guns, and do what suits you and your illness.
Don’t they just love the 2 year thing. Surely you’re doing well at 4.5mgm, what’s the matter with her. Personally I’d carry on with a dsns taper, 0.5 at a time. You can get a pill cutter & divide the 1mgm tablets, that’s what I do, it works well. Just make sure after each stage you’re still comfortable & pain free before dropping again. Good luck.
Even if the GP's figures were correct (and PMRPro, above, suggests that they are not) MOST is not ALL and is useful only at population level not at an individual level. You are an individual, not a statistic.
Lots of people have 2.5mg tablets prescribed. When mine were dispensed, I was given the coated ones even though my 5mg tabs are not coated!
Thank you for you reply and agree. When reading things on this forum that made sense, the rush for GPs to get patients off steroids seems pointless when peeps obviously are still suffering with symptoms.I have enteric 2 1/2 pred but does not have the same effect when mixing doses. I have been cutting 5mg tabs and adding 1mg to make up the dose I need.
Further phone call this pm. I have a prescription waiting for me at the pharmacy and 2 1/2 uncoated pred has been added to my repeat prescription again. Yippee 😊
Phew! It's just so annoying that we have to argue to get something so simple (and cheap).
I seem to have a developed a very low tolerance for bull-poo at the moment and find dealing with unnecessary nonsense wastes valuable energy and creates stress which wastes my limited steroid dose.
I was speaking to my Pharmacist last week about the fact they sometimes send me EC 2.5mg & l want uncoated (which is what’s on my Prescription) she’s now highlighted that on the Computer as l don’t like mixing the two......GP’s say the first thing that comes into their head sometimes, l’ve taken printed documents in the past to my doubting GP & copies of PMRGCAuk Newswire.....
What absolute hogwash, why on earth have they been told not to prescribe 2.5mg any more, by whom? They are still being manufactured in the enteric coated version. Just because she thinks most people get off steroids in two years, that does not mean ALL people. Some take a lot longer. I have a GP like that he seems to work on a tick off list in his head, based on what he was taught, possibly incorrectly, years ago.
The post is really amusing in a perverse way and sums up where many of us are with PMR, what other diseases are there where your doctor rings YOU up and asks what dose of medicine are you on!!
I suppose tho on second thoughts, the GPs are struggling because they virtually shut down because of Covid. Now everyone wants to see one because they have a ‘condition’ they don’t understand how to deal with themselves. It’s the mental health lunacy I can’t get my head round. We are/we’re all in the same position, most have felt isolated from families friends for various reasons but have found a way thru. We just have to get on with it. But GPs seem to have taken the full force on that. There were other pros in the NHS that have had worse to deal with, the ambulance, nurses etc.We are not important enough to have more than ‘we want you off steroids ASAP regardless of how we feel. Suppose a tele call was to let me know they are still there 😊. My daughter is a N Prac and had worked 58 hours a week from the start and still doesn’t complain. She has said the overtime has just bought her a beautiful coat that she wouldn’t have bought otherwise.😂
Good morning, sorry for late reply. I agree that after months of people not going, for whatever reason, to the doctors everyone is now trying to get there. I seem to he lucky in that compared to the many stories I read on here my doc is not one of the "get you off steroids as quickly as possible" brigade. Our thanks, as always, go to your daughter and the many others who tirelessly give their time to the NHS.
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call from doctor to increase steroids 
Pred the 'controlled drug' 
Never be without Pred,
