Best way to taper from 1mg down to zero

[pmr_nikola]

I have been on 1mg for several months and wonder if it is better to taper gradually using one of the plans and go from 1mg (old dose) to 0.5mg (new dose) or use 0mg as new dose target? ( basically skip the day with no pred)

[MrsNails]

Personally, l’d choose 0.5mg as my next step Good Luck 🍀 And Well Done!

[SnazzyD in reply to MrsNails]

I took a year to do 1-0mg. I fiddled with cutting 1mg tablets and did 0.75mg and 0.25mg at some points on very long tapers. I didn’t worry about absolute accuracy. It felt like I needed to do that because 0.5mg felt ok but 0mg didn’t for any length of time. Didn’t see the point in hurrying.

[MrsNails in reply to SnazzyD]

Different Scenario but when my Mum was tapering from 60mg (Chronic Brittle Asthma) at the end she went to 0.5mg every 36hours & then every 48hours - for her it was more of a Security ‘Thing’ but she had the back up of Inhaled Steroids.

[piglette]

I must admit if you can go via 0.5mg I would probably do that. Also when I get to zero I don’t think I would just stop one day for ever, but say stop one day and then take pred the next and so on, like a slow taper.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

I went via 0.5mg using my slow plan....had a bit of a stutter at one stage, but got there in the end.. 5 years ago almost to the day.

[DianeA1]

Hi, I have been at zero since Nov 2020. I reduced from 1 to zero by .25 every month. In June, I incorrectly thought I was flaring, but after two weeks I was back to normal.Good luck with your taper!

[pmr_nikola]

thanks all! I will go with small steps and long, extended taper. In the past, at certain level I had to sometimes repeat the same steps in the taper plan for several days to get over the trouble spots. I am in no rush and my rheumatologist is very accommodating and does not try to rush things.