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Weaning off of prednisone & pain management

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Oct 25 10:23am | Replies (156)
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@joan7

ALSO, how slowly were you weaned off Prednisone (time wise, monthly, bi-weekly, reduction, etc.), and what were the level of mgs of Prednisone you were weaned by (from 5 mg to 4 to 3 to 2, etc. or 5 mg to 2.5 mgs, etc.)?

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Replies to "ALSO, how slowly were you weaned off Prednisone (time wise, monthly, bi-weekly, reduction, etc.), and what..."
Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Feb 25 3:08pm

Hi @joan7, weaning off of prednisone and managing pain is a common topic in the PMR support group. No surprise, right?

I think you'll appreciate the stories and tips shared in these related discussions:
- PMR Dosages and Managing Symptoms: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/pmr-dosages/
- When and How to Taper Prednisone: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/when-and-how-to-taper-prednisone/
- How did you cope with the side effects tapering off prednisone?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/taper-side-effects/

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gman8691 | @gman8691 | Mar 12 4:04pm

Hi Joan. Sorry that you are having so much pain. So I was diagnosed with PMR 2 years and 10 months ago. My doctor was familiar with the symptoms and ordered a sed rate test and put me on 20mg of prednisone per day to start. Two weeks later he dropped it to 15 and my condition dropped as well. He re upped it to 20 a day and we worked together to manage the titration based on my pain levels. It was slow going but I am now at 1mg a day. I went down and back up many times during this process.
Hopefully you can work with a doctor who let this go down slowly and in rhythm with your symptoms. It takes time and patience and can be frustrating to go back up again. In my case it took time for my body to accept the new dosage so I had to go slowly 1 mg at a time then back up and then back down. Oh and raising my head did help also had to raise my arms with pillows because of the shoulder pain.

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