← Return to Anyone have discomfort or pain when tapering off prednisone?

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@prestol

I wonder if my tapering schedule is also too fast. I’ve been going down by 2.5 mg every two weeks, which worked ok until I hit 12.5. Now I have increased pain, mostly in the neck, shoulders and both hands (no swelling, just pain across knuckles). My rheum wants me to go back up by 1mg for two weeks, then try again. She is always amenable to me slowing things down. But, I have osteopenia and a heart arrhythmia almost certainly triggered by the initial high dose I needed five months ago (40 for ten days, then 30 for another month or so). I have significant OA in both shoulders and neck, so it is always a challenge to distinguish between that and PMR pain. Any insight or advice is appreciated.

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Replies to "I wonder if my tapering schedule is also too fast. I’ve been going down by 2.5..."

It sounds like you might be tapering too fast. 2.5 mg is a big drop. I know you're worried about the side effects of prednisone,

In my experience, tapering by 2.5 mg was too much. I've had much better luck with .5 mg every 2 weeks. I still have some pain to work through, but not too hard to deal with.

This will take longer, but I feel better and haven't had to go back to increased dosages.

Slow and steady wins the race!