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Anyone have discomfort or pain when tapering off prednisone?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Sep 22 7:45pm | Replies (144)Comment receiving replies
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.
Replies to "I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia in April 2023 and was prescribed 20mg of prednisone and slowly..."
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
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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