Tapering advice

[Lynlea]

I had a call from gp earlier today telling me to stay on 8mg pred as she has not received reply from rheumatologist.

I increased pred 12 days ago due to increased inflammation markers which have now come down to 2.

I am not sure if to go back down to 5mg and continue slow taper or wait for reply from rheumatologist.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Well you have another couple of days before you have to make a decision, so maybe wait until Wednesday and see if you get more advice. It does sound as if the extra Pred has worked, so you probably could reduce to 5mg.

The only problem is if when you reduce to 5mg you flare again… hopefully you shouldn’t but if you have gone against medical advice you’ll get the blame if it all goes pear shaped.

[Lynlea in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you. If I stay on 8mg until I get response will I taper 1 mg per month as previously.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lynlea]

Wait and see what they say ... But we would say 1mg a month is too much,

[Lynlea in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you, at my last appointment with rheumy they did advise reducing 1mg every 1-2 months and aim for stopping December 2023, this was before increased inflammation markers.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lynlea]

Nor would I "aim for" ANY stopping date. Just do it and see where you get to. Take away the pressure - and even 1/2mg can be enough to keep the inflammation under wraps.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Lynlea]

Agree with PMRpro if you flared when reducing 1mg a month previously -you might want to slow that down a bit… say every 6 to 8 weeks… that’s why many do 0.5mg a month…