Ages ago my rheumie whom I haven't needed for a number of years, gave me his version of a Dead Slow Drop starting with Week 1 say Wednesday, 1 day new dose.
Week 2 new dose Wednesday and Friday.
Week 3 new dose Monday Wednesday, Friday.
Week 4 new dose Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday.
Week 5 new dose Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday.
Week 6 new dose every day except Saturday.
Week 7 new dose Every Day.
He didn't believe in dropping on 2 consecutive days until week 5.
I am trying to drop from 2mg to 1.5mg . Re the DSNS method, when I got to taking 1.5mg every day for 4 days, my pmr pain hit me in the wrists and across the collar bone which I hadn't felt for years, so immediately went back to 2mg for another 4 weeks and all good.
Now I want another go and wonder if rheumie's method might be a bit easier please??
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diana1998
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I should try it, there is logic to it and we are all different in our experience of this disease and its treatment. Let us know how it goes. We’ll call it the Diana method. 😉
That is basically the DorsetLady simple taper - the DSNS one is a slightly different way of deciding when to have the days of new dose and not based on weeks.
I am presently using the DL taper to go from 0.75mg to 0.5mg and have repeated week 3 and week 4 twice. A couple of extra weeks after five and a half years is neither here nor there! I’m ultra cautious as I was previously on 0.5mg for 4 weeks before a minor flare surfaced. I sat on 1 mg for a couple of months, so hoping for success this time. When I reached 2.5mg I had to start tapering by .25mg. All the best and remember - the lower you go the slower you go. 🌻
Perhaps try going down a quarter of a mg, rather than a half? By using a pill cutter you could get 1.75mg . Half a 2.5mg = 1.25 ...half a 1mg = .5 giving you 1.75 mg.
I agree with Mazxstitch. Dropping from 2mg to 1.5mg far exceeds the 10% rule. At these lower levels you have to consider1. What is your optimal dose
2. Pred withdrawal
3. Adrenal insufficiency.
I suggest 1.75mg, then 1.5mg then 1.25mg then 1mg using a slow 5 or 6 week taper.
Personally I think it's also beneficial to stay on the new dose for 7 to 14 days before beginning another round. All this may seem tediously slow but in the long run if you don't get into trouble and have to increase your dose, then the overall Pred load will be less in the long term.
I was at 1mg but hadn't realised my bucket was filling and did overflow so now I'm back at 4mg again because I didn't realise the aches were infact the grumblings of pmr.
Personally I think it's also beneficial to stay on the new dose for 7 to 14 days before beginning another round.
Agree - at least 14 days, it can take that long to "know" current dose is enough... before you drop again.
As we know from the numerous comments on here, if you don't make sure each dose is sufficient, and you take a few drops you end up not knowing which step down has caused the issue. Wish some doctors would realise that...
The only way I was able to get completely off prednisone once I got to 1mg was to follow DorsetLady’s method using 1/4mg intervals. I’ve been off for 3 months now🤞and just had blood work done. Sed rate was 33…..normal for first time in over 6 years, but CRP was 18. Working on getting that lower but 3 months ago it was 20, so baby steps lol.
The entire time I was on prednisone it was high…..gradually decreased from 110-59. 33 May still be on the high side but it’s the first time I’ve made it into the labs normal range lol.
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