The fastest, safest way is DorsetLadyโs taper in FAQs. Slow but very sure. Show it to your doctor. The high dose will be making you feel weird and anxious but it is keeping your eyesight safe. A moon face doesnโt necessarily mean that you have Cushingsโ Disease, we all get the round face etc from the steroids. You looked perfectly normal in the photo you just posted, just a bit grumpy. Reading about these diseases is frightening. We should both stop it.
It depends how you do it. I would cut the 1 mg in half with a sharp pill cutter from a pharmacy or Amazon, and reduce by that one day then 2 days then 3 days until you are fully on 5 and a half every day of the week. If you feel ok then drop the second half mg each day until your dose is 5 mgs. Sometimes you need a rest of a couple of weeks but you can keep going down like this until zero. If at any time you start feeling dizzy, deathly fatigued, stomach ache, this maybe your Adrenal glands struggling and you should get them tested. You wonโt be your normal self for about a year but you will be free. This is my plan too. I think the 6 mgs to 5 mgs is tricky because of your own Adrenaline having to take over from the Pred and you get aches and pains from that too. Good luck! ๐๐๐๐ Keep us posted, I am in the same leaky boat.
Thanks Jane itโs doing mi head in to diagnose of GCA really itโs me so sure itโs much worse than last time my very big concern is my energy level diminishing every day doctor say thatโs the hard one. ๐๐๐๐๐
I have never felt worse in all my 6 years with these diseases. Like you, I badly want to be done with Pred and all the complicated drugs. Maybe the GCA never properly went last time and has come back with a vengeance. It is frustrating but this bit must be done slowly or you end up flaring and back at the beginning like snakes and ladders.
Jane I know youโre real as we met in leeds. Iโm Also in same boat. On myself feeling much beter pmr terrible if this makes sense.. I have been seeing my doctor a lot recently.. which I think I am very lucky and she is an excellent Doctor I am on my last tablet of an antibiotic the ones I am on on you just take one a day.
Mine varies and is sometimes uneven on each side. I seem to have two egg size soft lumps just about my ears. I am deflating like a balloon at 5 and a half mgs.There is nothing wrong with freaking. I am not showing my lumps though, too depressing.
Mee too Jane ,canโt make any plan ๐คท๐ฝโโ๏ธIโve had lots of symptoms too now taste bud use to eat 2 bananas a day apple oranges the last oranges are so Asid to me. ๐ฅฒ
Get the lumps itโs pergotr some time it drives my wife crazy it getting me so stressed and angry swaring. Then I am due to see rummy at end of month. She will probably say how are you can you lift your arms above shoulders ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅธ have you had that I will blow
My taste changes too. Tomatoes tasted sour for ages. I quite like them now. My favourite food is boiled eggs, nice and bland. Spice and acid are horrible.
That's fair enough Ronzy - but there is no magic formula for getting off pred when you have to stop it for such reasons. You can reduce rapidly down to about 10-15mg - it is only after that it is difficult or risky. It may be uncomfortable above that but that is a different matter. If the doctors want you off pred, then it is up to them to show you how.
5mg a week is possible - it'll probably feel horrid so you have to expect that but it is safe enough down to 15mg, But you need to discuss it with the doctor,
It will be - but be careful and go slowly now. Your adrenal function won;t cope if you try to go fast. If you feel ill - wobbly, confused, really unwell, call 999 and explain you have been reducing steroids after a long time on them
Ronzy - please stop self-diagnosing and second guessing your problems.
Yes, you apparently have Cushings syndrome, it is caused by the effect of excess corticosteroid on your body, That is because you are taking pred for PMR/GCA.
It would be a concern if you weren't taking pred but showed the symptoms - because then it might be coming from a tumour or some other thing wrong with the HPA axis - the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands and the substances involved with them.
If you want to get off pred then you must do it safely and with the help of a doctor. When you were on a lower dose you were complaining you had symptoms of GCA. Now you are on a higher dose because of your former symptoms, you are complaining again. You can't have it all ways!
Your right my friend but no one seam to be getting. There no Answers yet only lots of steroids which isnโt helping my breathing my lates notation is steroids cording it as one doctor said heart lungs liver etc all fine itโs all steroids ๐คท๐ฝโโ๏ธ
You just have to try and see how you get on - but yes, 2.5mg a week or 5mg every 2 weeks is possibly more comfortable and will get you to the same place. Depends how fast you want to get off doesn't it?
If you have GCA you don't want to get off pred quickly, it's likely saving you on many levels. I don't think anyone likes taking it and you do need to give it the respect it deserves in that it is likely the only thing right now that is going to help you. It must be frustrating to be back at that dose but you won't do yourself any favours by trying to get off it too fast. Have you tried a low carb diet. It is something I started almost straight away and yes I have a tummy, but not a moon face, and that's good enough for me. The high doses can make you feel a bit wired so maybe try and find the thing that helps to relax your brain a little. Anywhere nice to walk. I'm very lucky in that I have a forest opposite my house which is cool and peaceful. Tough for you to be back at square one, but perhaps it never fully went before and your body has told you as much. I also find breathing exercises really help. Slow breath in for 4, hold for 4, and slow breath out for 8.If that's too much just try what you can. It's something always got the young people to try at Childline who suffered from anxiety.
Mm chill problem there must try harder ,very good diet my big big problem now is my Blood OXYGEN AND ENERGY. . my walking distance gets lesโs every day ..
Doctor tomorrow. Just finished a corse of antibiotics
I donโt understand, Ronzy, Iโm sorry. Iโve helped you as much as I can. Most of your recent posts were about wanting to increase pred, and moaning that the doctor wouldnโt give you more pred! Last week you went by ambulance to hospital but they said you were fine. You didnโt post anything after that, so I assume the hospital found nothing wrong with you? You keep spending a lot of time googling symptoms & selfdiagnosing, which you agreed was bad for you& said you would stop it! As usual I suggest you see a doctor, especially if you wonโt follow Dorset Ladyโs slow taper. Otherwise you risk adrenal crisisโฆand youโve read plenty of posts on here about that. Lots of us..me includedโฆhave a โmoon faceโ from taking predโฆbut doesnโt mean we all have Cushings Syndrome! In the two photos you posted last week your face didnโt look round at all! As usual,same advice from me, please please see a doctorโฆthey are only people who can diagnose Cushingโs syndrome & MUST be involved if you want to reduce steroids quickly. A few weeks months ago we were helping you because you said you had GCA, & were having a biopsy to prove it! If you, as you say, have GCA, then I fear it would be very dangerous to reduce pred quickly (I donโt know much about GCA). You canโt have it always, Ronzyโฆ
Sorry ๐ฉ๐ฅน all you say is true I am driving my wife crazy at times. Only thing Iโm sure of Is I am getting worse every week. I know Iโm begging to sound a rite drama Queen.
And I appreciate all your efforts and concerns I canโt wate for a slight improvement ๐ฅน
To be completely honest, I thought because you post so often, & jump from medical condition to another one, that you had no support at home except for Google, who always confirms you have multiple diseases, mostly when you are reading it during the night! Your poor wife, she must be going crazy. For heavens sake tell it all to the doctors, tell them everything you keep telling us!! The doctor is your only solution! We cannot diagnose you, or give you medicine/tablets. Antibiotics? Youโve never mentioned an infection? Lungs? Would explain breathing troubles. I am asthmatic & have been on many short courses of pred to help thatโฆ& it has always worked (but not overnight)! Some of my chest infections last about two months, & Iโve been hospitalised at times. Thanksโฆat least you agree that I only write the truthโฆI do try to be (brutally) honest, as Iโm hoping it will drive you to go to the doctor & seek help!!!!! Take care!
I have been to doctors to day I AM DEEPLY A-FENDED DO NOT TELL OR WRITE LEYES. I I have done a lot of post not for fun I assure you. I am a bad speller also not been easy. I have a fantastic wife. Thanks for all your help. Thanks.
I didnโt say you tell, or write, lies, Ronzy!! I said I was glad that you agreed that I write the truth. Nothing else. Glad you have seen the doctor. What did he say? Did he Diagnose something else? Did he agree you need to get off pred quickly, & has he given you a plan to follow. Iโm very pleased you have a fantastic wife, I was worried that there may be nobody to look after you!!
Hello Ronzy...I don't often post but do read a lot on here. I can't help but see how these people that know you better than I do, and have commented wisely are doing so because they care. They care about everyone going through this 'awful, frustrating and hard to understand at times' ilness because they understand and 'get it'. Please take their advice. I wish you the best and remember slow is key ๐
Ronzy, I have breathing issues probably worsened by muscle weakness caused by pred. I also have asthma and less breathing room from scoliosis/surgeries.. I expect it to improve on slowly lowering pred. I also felt exercise really helped the breathing but panicking about the Oxygen and shortness of breath makes it worse. This is because panic and hyperventilating constrict the airways. Do you measure your Oxygen readings? Are they low. In the meantime YouTube videos from accredited breathing centers will help you.If your oxygen goes and stays below 92% go to emergency.
You can buy a finger clip on line that measures your blood oxygen. Amazon do them cheaply. When I was experiencing the sensation of oxygen starvation as a side effect of high dose Prednisalone, I found it reassuring to see that the reading was in the normal range. My panic was making me feel worse. I also got a totally blocked nose at times. I always sleep with the window open and in stuffy, hot weather I have a fan blowing in my bedroom. I used to prop up my pillows too.This all really helps. I am sorry you are feeling fearful and anxious it is a horrible sensation. It doesnโt help when people tell you to pull yourself together, it just makes you feel more alone and isolated. I hope that I havenโt done that. You are welcome to post as often as you like, it is the only reason the forum exists. Nothing was found with the heart tests I had and I donโt get this symptom anymore, now I am on a much lower dose of Pred. Let us know how you are getting through this tough patch - often. ๐๐๐
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