I am currently at 2.25mg prednisone and am noticing that I have a bit more energy these days. I thought it would be interesting to review for myself my prednisone dosing since I started in 2021. I have been keeping a record in Excell. Perhaps this will be encouraging to others, although I realize we all have individual levels of PMR to contend with.
These are the recordings from today's date for the past 3 years: '21 20mg, '22 7.5 mg, '23 4 mg, '24 2.25mg
So far no flares, although I am on constant lookout for any PMR pain. I've been tapering very slowly, sometimes staying at the dose for up to 3 months. I'll continue in that vein and hope to reach 0 whenever I get there, going in .25 increments. I wait for fatigue and depression to level out before tapering again. And I do not begin a taper when significant personal events are happening. Very methodical.
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spacevoyager
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Thank you, that's very helpful. After 6 years I had got down to 5.5 but last April I was involved in a serious RTA which left me bedridden for about 6 weeks and in hospital for 8. When they first started to get me standing and walking I felt faint very quickly so the medical doctor eventually decided the problem was adrenal insufficiency so put me up to 15 which, initially felt like quite a blow, as I'd worked so hard to get where I was. Anyway when I was discharged my instructions were to go down to 10 then reduce by .5 mg every month. I thought I would find that easy and get down to at least 7 really quickly and then go more slowly as my memory was that it was relatively easy getting down that far and then I hit a wall of tiredness. TBH by then I'd stopped worrying about how quickly I tapered but was prioritising quality of life above all, so, like you I no longer worry about how long it will take. My experience was different second time round though and in tapering from 7.5 to 7 my problen has been dizziness rather than fatigue I'm between 7.5 and 7 right now just going from two days on 7 then one on 7.5 to 3 days on 7.5 and trying to decide whether to speed up a bit or take the plunge and drop to 7 more quickly. My priority these days is on recovering from the accident and getting stronger and able to walk further and also be able to walk up and down short flights of stairs. I'll probably stay at 7 for a bit before continuing to try to get down to 5. It's really encouraging that you are down to 2.5 and beginning to feel more energy by doing things the way you have
Oh My, that is such an ordeal. Sometimes just being able to walk up a flight of stairs is a real accomplishment. 7 isn't too bad. Especially if you are getting stronger. I always try to look on the side of what I CAN do, and remember when I could barely get up out of a chair. Adrenal fatigue is not to be taken lightly and it feels very isolating because people don't understand, not even doctors. Take it slow and get stronger over time. Courage!
Thank you for that encouragement. I have a very encouraging physio too. He's very understanding of both fibromyalgia (which I also have) and polymyalgia which he knows less about. He doesn't push which is good
My record is similar ‘21 - 15, ‘22 - 7.5, ‘22 - 15 due to a flare & COVID, ‘23 - 5, now at 3.5 but I go so slowly 0.5mg at a a time. There are times when I think it’s too slow, but I am so busy and do occasionally have overwhelming fatigue that I know it’s the right thing to do and I would be silly to try and go faster so I plod on and next month will go down another 0.5mgs. My GP is really good and just says carry on this way, does bloods when needed - all good and remaining good, so here I am carrying on with life and steroids!
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Final stages of tapering
Tapering
Tapering Detail
Fatigue from tapering prednisone?
GCA/PMR Tapering below 25 mg, hitting a wall
