"Deathly fatigue"

[Paulagcl]

I am down to 4 mg and though usually I have some fatigue the first couple of day after shifting the dosage downward, this is way more than that -- I can hardly function.

[SnazzyD]

Your adrenal glands may be struggling to cope with the loss of that bit of Pred. This would be made more obvious if you did anything, and not that much, that your adrenal glands couldn’t pay out for. Give them time to adjust by taking it very easy. Did you just drop the dose or ease the new one in?

[Paulagcl in reply to SnazzyD]

I eased into it, which had been going fine until now. I did start exercising a little more. And I've been fighting a cough-cold that's goingaround.

[Paulagcl in reply to SnazzyD]

I also had a very stressful week emotionally, something going on in my family. It resolved well last night so that will be out of the picture, anyway.

[SnazzyD in reply to Paulagcl]

Well, all those things could do it. If your adrenal glands are just about putting out enough cortisol for a good day, if you then get something on top and you are in deficit, you can feel dreadful. It can take a day or two to recover providing you are able to stop. Sometimes one has to feel rubbish for a while before the glands kick in to action.

When you say you can’t function, on what level do you mean?

[Paulagcl in reply to SnazzyD]

Too exhausted to do anything. I did feel better by dinnertime. I need to make sure I eat when tired -- my tendency has always been to have no appetite at all when stressed -- other people have the opposite reaction!

[SnazzyD in reply to Paulagcl]

Low cortisol level can make one feel like that quite easily. Your previous week could have been just too much and until these things happen, one can think all is well in the adrenal department when it isn’t. I have been caught out a few times in the past, even when I was off Pred.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Paulagcl]

It might be out of the picture for future, but the effect if what’s gone certainly won’t have helped… and the stress will have made your adrenals wobble precariously.

Just stay at current dose for a couple of months to give them time to catch up and then VERY slow taper, small steps, time and patience …

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Paulagcl]

Snazzy and DL have said it all - no point repeating it! Except to emhasise it!

[Merryfield]

Give in and take naps.

[Paulagcl in reply to Merryfield]

I am! Also some junk TV.

[HeronNS]

Ah, the 4 mg deathly fatigue. Just another stage in this annoying disease! This too shall pass.

[Paulagcl in reply to HeronNS]

Thank you!!!!!!!!😀

[piglette]

I just gave in to the deathly fatigue.

[Hankb]

I'm at the same stage as you at 4.5mg and also suffering from fatigue, no pain thankfully. My advice, for what its worth, is to take things easy during the day and rest whenever you feel it necessary. Don't over do it, you've come this far, which I consider it to be a milestone during the journey, give your body a chance adjust to the new dose and don't rush things. Best wishes.

[Paulagcl in reply to Hankb]

Thanks!

[Temoral in reply to Paulagcl]

Same here with fatigue at 3.75....I've just had to give in to fatigue and work with it instead of fighting it.....Rheumy phone call on Monday...more stress when he wants me to do 3.5 and 2 on alternate days and I said no last time. Go slowly....

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Temoral]

3.5 and 2 on alternate days

What a bonkers way of thinking - so you'll have to say No again.. good luck.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Temoral]

3.5 and 2? On alternate days? What is the man on? Just say NO!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to PMRpro]

Not our planet obviously!

[Temoral in reply to DorsetLady]

Let's hope he is in an approachable mood...early appointment at 8.30....maybe he will be fresh, and receptive...hmm

[PMRnewbie2017]

Please stop reducing while you have a virus or are unwell. Just sit tight until you are fully recovered.

[Louisa1840]

I heartily agree with everything that's been said above. Why should doctors and specialists give us more stress with their crazy, ill informed ideas and this one eyed mission to drop to zero pred whatever the cost? Much has been said lately about staying around 5 mgs for as long as it takes - no sweat! This forum and a sympathetic GP are all I need. Thank you to everyone who so faithfully read our posts and give from their experience, such free advice....

[Paulagcl in reply to Louisa1840]

Agreed. I don't know about other countries, but specializations here have become ludicrous. For example, in my orthopedist's office there is a separate specialty for foot and ankle, knee, hip, shoulder and cervical. As if each part weren't connected to all the parts! All my life until recently one orthopedist did it all!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Paulagcl]

If they are surgeons as well that does make sense to some extent. It can be very complex.

[Paulagcl in reply to PMRpro]

They've always been surgeons, though. I assume if it was more complex than they could handle, then someone else was called in, but at least at first one could get an evaluation involving the whole body. It's kind of like the difference between a GP and a specialist then and now, I think. Here, anyway, when the field of sports medicine became a specialty, that kind of division started to pop up a lot in specialized clinics. But as you say, it's not black and white.

[Paulagcl in reply to PMRpro]

Back in my twenties I was a dancer, in a modern dance company in San Francisco. We were always getting some injury or other and had an orthopedist we all went to, a general one, and almost always he could handle it but he would check everything out up the spine, etc. If he saw something specific then he'd send us to a specialist, but that was almost never the case.

[Louisa1840]

Exactly! Remember the old song " The kneebone' s connected to the thighbone etc" ?

[Paulagcl in reply to Louisa1840]

These drs are all probably too young to have heard an old song!!!