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Has anyone successfully weaned off prednisone without using a biologic
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Aug 25 9:46am | Replies (32)Comment receiving replies
yes. I was one that did not have elevated inflammation markers. ESR and SED rate were in normal range. My HSCRP was elevated but apparently that can be something else. I had no pain felt like a million bucks on 10mg. I tried at 3 months to reduce and pain came back. I tried again at 4 months and some discomfort but was able to drop to 5mg. I stayed here for another month then dropped to 2.5mg. Increased pain but an aleve would sort of fix it. At month 6 I went to zero. Still having discomfort, light headed, gurgling stomach, BP was up, cholesterol was up, A1C was up. On scale 1-10 I was about a 6-7 in pain. Took about a month to feel better and about 3 months to feel normal.
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What you experienced sounds a lot like what I experienced that was identified as adrenal insufficiency. Did you doctor suggest this problem or test for it? It can often feel like PMR pain but the cause is that the long-term use of steroids put your adrenal glands to stop working since the body is getting steroids orally. waking your adrenal gland up can be easy or it can take weeks to months to taper very slowly.
This is a short article on adrenal insufficiency from the National Institute of Health - https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/endocrine-diseases/adrenal-insufficiency-addisons-disease/symptoms-causes
It states "The most common cause of adrenal insufficiency overall is suddenly stopping corticosteroids after taking them for a long time." My understanding is "long term" in this case can mean greater than 2-3 weeks.
I had to define a very slow tapering plan once I hit 10mg. It seems that that is about how much your system publishes when your adrenal glands are fully functioning if you are not on oral steroids. Once I started to drop below 10 it was slow and steady drops in oral steroids that won the race. Looking at it from what you are providing your body, dropping from 10mg to 5mg is a 50% drop in what you are providing your body. If your adrenal glands are not fully awake your body is not going to get the steroids it needs and your body will complain big time. Those pains could easily be confused for a PMR flare. Below 5mg I would drop 1/2 mg every time I dropped. It took awhile, but it worked.