Covid recovery and steroids

[Yellow-dog]

using the dsns method I had got down to 0.5 mg steroids in December but then I got covid. The first symptoms that I experienced were like a pmr flare. I increased the steroids to 5 mg . After two weeks of slow recovery I then went rapidly downhill and went to the doctor. I have asthma and was very breathless so he prescribed 40 mg for 10 days.

I took my last 40 mg dose last Sunday, and decided to go back to 1 mg for the pmr. I was continuing my slow return to normal but woke up today feeling very out of sorts, headache, fogginess, queasy.

Is this steroid withdrawal? I don’t know whether to go up to 5 mg again , or carry on and see if things settle down. Any advice would be welcome, I am reluctant to go back to the doctor as the two that I saw in December seemed to have no idea about pmr.

Thankyou everyone,

[SnazzyD]

Difficult to say because Covid did this to me (minus the asthma) and it can drag on after the acute stuff is finished. It is possible that what adrenal capability you had on a good day has been totally suppressed by the 40mg. In addition to that you are still suffering and so your cortisol needs are still above that for a good day. I would stay on 5mg if it were me and go back down really slowly, assuming you are reawakening your adrenals all over again. No one can really say, but that’s what I would do if it were me in this situation.

[Yellow-dog in reply to SnazzyD]

Yes, I think going back to 1 mg was a bit ambitious . I was so keen to get off them altogether which I know isn’t the right thing .

[SnazzyD in reply to Yellow-dog]

It’s difficult when the carrot of that golden zero is sooo close. Even though we know we’re down to low doses, it’s the psychological aspect of being free of it.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Yellow-dog]

That is exactly what I was going to say - technically you weren't on a high dose long enough to suppress adrenal function but the after-effects of Covid can hang on and need more adrenal input, And we know that adrenal function can take up to a year to sort itself out to be reliable even after getting off pred entirely so you need to keep an eye out for adrenal wobbles.