Anyone have discomfort or pain when tapering off prednisone?

Discomfort is not the word. Tapering from 7.5 to 5 mgs Prednisone caused me to have severely aching and pain all over. Everything started to hurt. I was in excruciating pain for 4 days and finally took two Advil (which I was told after the fact that I should only take Tylenol). The pain went away. I was waiting for it come back, but it never did. They have been very slowly weaning me down on the Prednisone. I was on 3 mgs for 2 months. This morning I was told I can take 2 mg today and 3 mg tomorrow and alternate days over the next month. Not feeling too bad right now but it is early.

Has anyone NOT experienced pain & stiffness while tapering?

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia in April 2023 and was prescribed 20mg of prednisone and slowly reduced my intake, each time I would have a slight reaction when reducing the steroid but after approx 10 days I was fine again.

At the end of May this year I stopped taking the steroids after tapering off them, at first I was fine but then started feeling emotional, headachy, and got muscle aches. My doctor said I was showing signs of withdrawal and put me on an alternative treatment which was 3 kinds of drops in water that I drank throughout the day which did help but this week the aches have got worse in my neck & shoulders and the physio treatment I’m having for what I thought was a right shoulder issue is not responding and I’m now wondering if it’s my Polymyalgia returning although my bloods recently didn’t show any inflammation?

Has anyone else experienced this when they have stopped the steroids as I can’t seem to find any related articles on the internet and currently waiting for an appointment to see my rheumatologist.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice.

Welcome, @alisongrundy. I moved your questions about side effects tapering off of prednisone to this existing discussion:
- Anyone have discomfort or pain when tapering off prednisone? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/discomfort-or-pain-when-tapering/

I did this so you can connect easily with others as well as read previous helpful comments. You can also use the group's search to find related discussions. For example:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/polymyalgia-rheumatica-pmr/?search=taper&index=discussions

I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia in April 2023 and was prescribed 20mg of prednisone and slowly reduced my intake, each time I would have a slight reaction when reducing the steroid but after approx 10 days I was fine again.

At the end of May this year I stopped taking the steroids after tapering off them, at first I was fine but then started feeling emotional, headachy, and got muscle aches. My doctor said I was showing signs of withdrawal and put me on an alternative treatment which was 3 kinds of drops in water that I drank throughout the day which did help but this week the aches have got worse in my neck & shoulders and the physio treatment I’m having for what I thought was a right shoulder issue is not responding and I’m now wondering if it’s my Polymyalgia returning although my bloods recently didn’t show any inflammation?

Has anyone else experienced this when they have stopped the steroids as I can’t seem to find any related articles on the internet and currently waiting for an appointment to see my rheumatologist.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice.

Hi
Yes I had tremendous trouble tapering and would suffer with fatigue and aching joints and my mood would lower, essentially rheumatologist and endocrinologist said thats how it will be for you so I gritted my teeth each time i decreased and now, 1 week on, no prednsione. I have low mood, aches and pains but my inflammation markers aren't raised I would not take prednisone for me again I had too many side effects and tapering was really difficult. @ years from 20mg to none. I use a heat pad for my lower back and shoulders when in pain and that helps but the last rheumatologist visit told me it would be months before my body recovered from the effects of the prednisone, so I accept that and take a day at a time I wish you all the best. I never found a magic way to taper just ended up gritting my teeth and doing it until I got to 5mg often would have a day or 2 in bed when I tapered as would feel so unwell. Everyone is different but this site has been so helpful to me in knowing my situation wasn't unusual

I am just over a month off of prednisone (after 3 years and two unsuccessful attempts to taper). It may have been masking arthritis which I now have in both hands. I still have shoulder and hip pain but it is bearable. I will get tested again in August to see if the blood work shows any signs of a flare. Movement definitely helps but some days it is hard to get motivated to initially work through the pain.