Feeling apprehensive!

[Pangolin43]

I had a rheumatology appointment yesterday. I am currently taking 2mg of pred and have stayed at this for two weeks. As I am on enteric coated pred my rheumatologist has suggested alternate days of taking 1mg one day and 2mg for the next drop. I think I’ve previously read on this forum that this yoyo method is not advisable? I think that I would rather not add in uncoated pred at this point in my reduction as this would mean adding a time change of when to take the coated/uncoated. Am I being silly? What do people think of the DSNS method of 1 day 1mg, 6 days 2mg etc? I know this is a 50% drop on the day when I would take 1mg and that’s a lot. Has anyone tried this?

Thank you everyone

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

EC tablets are one of the reasons why slower tapers are ideal, although the difference between 2mg and 1mg is significant, if you introduce the smaller dose on one day per week, then 2 days, then 3 days it’s a lot easier than every other day. And you pick up any issues more easily as well.

You can always extend the length of the taper by repeating each stage if you need to.

But do stay at current dose for at least a month [longer if you want] before you even think about tapering.

By the way, you can easily edit your post - just select MoreV under post, then select Edit, make changes as necessary and then Post again.

[Pangolin43 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thank you DL .. both for the advice and the editing advice (just done it) 😀

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Pangolin43]

👍

[PMRpro Ambassador]

You can edit your post which is probably better as people joining the thread later will only read your post and not the correction in the reply. To edit it, click on More which will give you srop down menu with Edit and Delete amongst the choices.

The DSNS taper was partly developed for people with your problem of using EC pred which can't be cut back in the days where 1mg tablets weren't available. It worked for them so it is worth trying. You can repeat each step as many times as you like to slow it more and for most people it has worked well. I wouldn't want to do 1/2/1/2 right from the start but 1/2/2/2/2/2/2/1/2/2/2/2/ and so on is another thing.

[Pangolin43]

Thank you. I was thinking along similar lines as both yourself and Dorset Lady re pred reduction. I’ve edited my post and deleted my own error response 😀

[SnazzyD]

I mixed and matched coated and uncoated with 3 hour delay for the uncoated to account for the quicker absorption time. I tried alternating at one point and lasted a week because my body didn’t like it.

I also did my own slow reduction by doing it in 0.5mg drops over anything from 8-14 weeks at this level. This is because of fatigue etc with slow adrenals. However, even if that isn’t an issue for you, 2 weeks might be not enough to really know if the reduction was too much for your inflammation if it builds back up slowly.

[Pangolin43 in reply to SnazzyD]

Thank you. I’m going to try PMRpro’s plan and see how I go. I’ll repeat the week if I’m feeling rough. Fingers crossed. 👍

[Oldies60]

I did the every other day with 2.5 mgs. I took my last dose a few weeks ago, I have stiffness in my arms and shoulders, but so far that's it. I had those symptoms when I quit prednisone. I pray I don't have a flare. I've got terrible lower back pain which I'm having a procedure done next week that I pray works. Nothing else has helped the lumbar pain. I think it's worth a try to do the alternative day program. Your body will let you know if it's working. Good luck!

[Pangolin43 in reply to Oldies60]

Thank you for your reply. I hope it works out for you.

[Oldies60 in reply to Pangolin43]

Thank you.