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How to wean off prednisone 5mg without side effects?
Autoimmune Diseases | Last Active: Jan 1 9:00pm | Replies (43)Comment receiving replies
"In some ways, my inability to take steroids is a threat to my health but it is what it is."
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I could "tolerate" prednisone but that was because I have taken so much of it over many, many years. I didn't tolerate prednisone well when I first started taking it. Prednisone had such an immediate positive effect in terms of pain relief that I would overlook all the side effects. There was nothing positive about weight gain, insomnia and cataracts at the age of 40.
After many years, I decided not to take prednisone anymore. Then the pain was so incredible I was diagnosed with PMR and took moderately high prednisone doses daily for another 13 years!
I told someone who experienced an adrenal crisis that I felt "more normal" when I took prednisone. She tried to "reeducate" me and was concerned that I might have symptoms of adrenal insufficiency. We had so much in common that she convinced me that I was playing with fire with "liberal" dosing with Prednisone.
I never could comprehend people who insist that their "quality of life" is better being on Prednisone. At one stage, I agreed that Prednisone helped until I realized that my life probably "depended" on me taking prednisone. That was when I started to look at prednisone more critically. I already knew my quality of life wasn't very good being on Prednisone.
Now that I'm off Prednisone ... I'm better off.
I think we go through stages regardless of why we take Prednisone initially.
Replies to ""In some ways, my inability to take steroids is a threat to my health but it..."
I want to know if the symptoms I’m having when I try to decrease the prednisone are drug withdrawal that won’t actually put me in danger of an adrenal crisis but are non the less miserable, or are they from true adrenal insufficiency, two very different things. Yet when I conveyed this to my Endo she said it really doesn’t matter because either way, the treatment is taking 5 mg of prednisone. I wasn’t satisfied with that answer and asked about having the ATCH challenge test and she poo pooed that, but did agree to give me the tapper of 1mg less per month. I feel like I’m talking to a wall but health care options are very limited in my area. I just want off of this what I now call poison.
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Prednisone activates my atrial fibrillation unfortunately. I have lupus, probable scleroderma, spina fractures, cervical stenosis/myelopathy, neuropathy etc. etc. and it sure would help to take it short term. When I was in the hospital with COVID the doctor said "I don't know how to treat year m'aam." Great!
That said, I have a friend who feels great on it, loves it, and seems to take it all the time- without talking to her doctor a lot of those times. Aside from other effects, I worry about her bones. Her arthritis is really bad (erosive). I suggested she talk to the MD about maybe taking a low dose- 5mg? 3mg? Has that helped any of you long term?