Reducing Prednisone, not working

[Linny3]

Hi

Wanted to see what others thought of the way I am trying to decrease prednisone.

I have read and tried many of the ways it has been suggested to reduce pred. and I haven't had any luck. Currently on 16 mg. Have been between 16 &15 mg for most of the past five years. Tried many ways to decrease. Currently, I am trying to reduce from 16mg to 15&1/2 mg. Each week I take two days and drop to 15&1/2. The rest of the week I am back to 16mg as all the pain comes back on the 3rd day. If I go to 3 days at 15&1/2 the pain comes back full blast and I can hardly move. Stiff hips, low back and thighs. This week I think I will stay at the 15&1/2 reduction for 2 days only and not drop on the 3rd day. I wonder if it would change anything if I changed the days I reduced to 15&1/2.

Very frustrated and miserable. I suffer many side effects of the prednisone and it affects my life as much as the pain of pmr can. I am on my 9th shot of methotrexate so I haven't been on it long enough to make a difference in the reduction of Pred.

Thanks for the replies

[SnazzyD]

I really don’t know but my experience (GCA not PMR) was that somewhere between days 1-4 after dropping I felt pretty rubbish on doses well over 10mg. I would try to go to bed for a few days because of feeling wiped out with body aches and headache. The fact yours is kicking in so quickly makes me wonder if you’re getting withdrawal and not a flare. However, I’m not the expert. This would last from a couple of days to up to a week. For me personally the easing in of a new dose didn’t work because the swing in dose made me feel worse.below 10mg it was doable and necessary. What’s the longest you’ve stuck at the new dose?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

If you are having difficulty reducing it’s best not to do 2 or 3 consecutive days at lower dose at the beginning.

As SnazzyD says sounds like steroid withdrawal. Have a look at this post…..

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

and then try one of these tapering plans (if you haven’t already -

DSNS-

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

..and mine (suggest you try the 7 week version)

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[Linny3 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks for the replyI have tried to stick it out when the pain comes on. If I wait more than a day or two then the pain is so bad I have to up the prednisone to get it under control. Three days on the new dose seems to be too many days. I will try your suggestion to not do 2 days in a row of new dose.

I will refresh my memory about your suggestions of slow taper.