Any Tips For Tapering Off Prednisone?

Cutting 1mg tablets is reasonably accurate. On the odd occasion that one half crumbles or is obviously smaller, I toss them in the bin. Doesn't happen often.

I used a pill cutter with no expectation of total accuracy, nor did that ever feel important (no noticeable physical difference day to day). The 5mg pills could be split into 8 parts, the smaller 1mg into 4 parts. The pill was placed in the V of the cutter. When dealing with segments, I did one at a time, adjusting each with something small like a metal toothpick until it seemed centered.

I only cut one pill of each type at a time, using up the pieces before cutting another. Toward the end there were six old pill containers with labels like 1/8-5mg and 1/2-1mg (blue ink for 5mg bits, red for 1mg bits, really didn't want to confuse them.) Between the cutting and the math, it was a bit fiddly, but worked for me.

Goodness! Glad it worked for you but way too fiddly for me. Lol I'm tapering by 1 mg increments so don't need smaller doses plus the Prednisone has wreaked havoc with my vision, especially close. 🥴

That's my situation now at 7 mg. Most days I'm very stiff and painful in my shoulders when I wake up since going down to 7, but it usually subsides as the day wears on. Three more days then I drop down to 6 mg. Seriously considering staying at 7 a while longer because of how the PMR has reared its ugly head but so want to taper to 4 or hopefully zero.

Thanks, John, I'll check it out.

I would decide what my prednisone dose would be for an entire week. I had a seven day pill organizer and laid all my medications out for the whole week. That was more work than I wanted to do.

I didn't have too many problems except for random pills left in my pill organizer at the end of the week. I thought I was organized as long as I didn't drop my pill organizer and spill all my medications. When I would drop my pill organizer, that created a big mess.

I did go on actemra for 6 months. It did bring my sed rate down to 0 but the cancer doc I was going to for MGUS had an issue with the actemra so I went off it

The Actemra did work for me though as far as the PMR. So you should really look at it as a possible aid to getting off the prednisone

I am working on the slow weaning off prednisone at reducing 1 Meg a month. After reading all of the comments I may change the reduction to 1/2 when I get to 5 meg.

I have tried reducing by 1 Meg every 2 weeks and always have had reoccurrence. I was even at zero and had a huge flare and had to go back to 20

Can you do a week or more of dosing at 7/6.5/7/6.5 to do a smaller reduction than dropping straight to 6.5mg? It really isn't hard cutting the 1mg pills in half. If that works okay you could drop to 6.5mg every day for a bit. The advice to reduce by no more than 10% dose at a time under 10mg works for many. Other people alternate days of 7/6/7/6 to get an overall reduction to 6.5mg.

I am the same whenever a new medication is prescribed or suggested. I research it as much as possible and keep in mind how sensitive my stomach is to any medications. Some doctors don't mind a patient looking into medications, some do.