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At first I needed 20mg/day for my PMR, and I had to split the dose because relief lasted 12-14 hours. I have now tapered down to 2 mg (with some setbacks but not bad) and am back in pain. I am a night owl and I suppose night people have different circadian rhythms or is everyone's cortisol highest in the early morning hours 4-5 am? I am going to increase by .5 mg and try splitting 2.5 mg/day, but don't know if the larger 1.5mg should be at night, or in the morning. I will experiment but does anyone else have this question? when I am down to 1 mg, should I take it at night or when I wake up?
Replies to "At first I needed 20mg/day for my PMR, and I had to split the dose because..."
Hello begonia77, I am now at 3.5 mg per day. I take 3mg in the morning with breakfast and the half mg about 9pm. I find that works well for me, I have no morning stiffness. My next step is to take 2.5 mg in the morning and half mg at 9pm. You could try 2mg in the morning and the half mg in the evening. I believe that your adrenals will start working better if you are having a lower dose at night when splitting doses. Whatever you choose, I hope it works !!
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Hi @begonia77, Welcome to Connect. It sounds like you are doing great with the tapering schedule. I started at 20 mg for both of my occurrences of PMR but never had to split my dose due to more pain at night. There are others who have discussed splitting the dose in the following discussions that might have some suggestions for you.
--- Splitting the dose: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/splitting-the-dose/
--- Divided dose or all at once?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/divided-dose-or-all-at-once/
Do you keep a daily log of your pain level when you get up and your dosage for the day? How long have you been on prednisone?