I feel that I am in remission. I tapered down to 2.5 mg prednisone three weeks ago . When should I start the next taper ? And at this point do I taper in .25 doses instead of the . 5 difference? So do I then go to 2.25 or can I go to 2mg?
I've had PMR for five years and feel normal again, thought I would never get here. This group has been a blessing to me since the start .
Morning. I worked on a 0.5mg taper on a DL five week scheme. However, it is not set in stone and if it doesn't feel OK then just extend it a week or two before you start the next one. I would stay where you are for the next two weeks and if you feel OK then drop down to 2.0mg.
I feel that I am in remission.
Hope so, but you won’t definitely know until you are off the steroids and pain feee for a few months.
Would suggest you continue as you are and see how it goes….just be aware that even 0.5mg can make a big difference, and 2.5mg is probably doing a lot more than you realise.
It would be lovely and I do know people who have said they suddenly felt "different" - but 2,5mg is loads to keep PMR inflammation under control and the feeling better could be that your adrenal function has caught up properly Just keep tapering as you did before - watching for not feeling as good at the end of each step.
All the best.
I did for sure, but what I cannot be sure of - was it my GCA, my adrenals or a combination o of both?
Quite!!!!! And it is all invisible ...
Yes ! This group is a true blessing in our lives! I was at 2.5 mg. of prednisone and it all seemed ok and after 5 weeks I had a small flare---
I am finding that the lower the amount--- the more unpredictable for me--- I had to increase my mg. and finally landed on 3.5 mg. I was doing fine for 4 weeks and then the symptoms started---4 weeks later the symptoms just about gone.
So tapering after 3 weeks would be risky for me at such low dose. I am seriously considering the .25 mg. for future tapers to minimize the chances of another flare.
Perhaps others on this forum with more experience than I, can recommend if and when is desirable to taper by .25 mg. prednisone.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful progress--- one day at a time!
It doesn't matter how slowly you taper, how small the steps are, if you have reached the dose you need you won't get lower. You have to be patient, wait a bit - maybe months - for the underlying disease activity to reduce further so you need less pred. If you flare about the same dose more than once - that is your body telling you that you have arrived.
I wish my rheumatologist understood that!
I think she probably does really ...
Thank you so much PMRpro! Your comments are so clarifying and helpful! So very grateful for your always being there for us!!!
As PMRpro has said no matter how you get there, if you go too low you go too low.
Give yourself a break from tapering for a while -then try again -and if you feel a smaller reduction would help, then do that. There is no hard and fast rule on when to introduce that -the only rule is listen to your body and reduce as slowly as you need to.
Thank you so much DorsetLady! Just what I needed to hear!. As always so appreciative for all you do for us all!
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