Adrenal Insufficiency vs Prednisone Withdrawal

Hi there,

I promised to follow up with you on prednisone taper my Pulm team decided on. I am going down 2,5 mg every week - unless it gets rough and then I am to slow to tapering 2,5 every two weeks. My Dr said if I have sig fatigue and other side effects for more than two weeks after a taper that she will send me to an endocrinologist to test adrenal function. She doesn’t seem too worried about it happening as an emergency.

I tapered this morning from 15 to 12.5 and it was a rough day (I feel like I have the flu - achy fatigued and a little nauseous) but after 12 hours I’m starting to feel a little better. Hoping most weeks go this way.

Thanks for the update. I hope your tapper goes well! Will you remind me, how long have you been on prednisone?
Everything I’m reading says the toughest days are once you drop below 5 mg. According to my endocrinologist 5mg daily will prevent adrenal insufficiency. She just told me I can try taking 2.5 mg daily for 15 days then 2.5 mg every other day for 15 days then stop. She said if I have symptoms of adrenal insufficiency such as severe fatigue, nausea, low blood pressure, to go back to 5 mg and contact her. She didn’t give me any blood pressure parameters only said if it’s “low” and said it’s important to monitor it. This was all told to me through a message, not at an appointment, so I didn’t ask how low of blood pressure I need to worry about.

I’ve been on it since March 2024. I’ve not successfully gone below 5 mg because of my lungs getting angry. So the biologic is supposed to stop that this time. The one time I reached 5 mg it was only for 2 days and it felt awful.

Low blood pressure is anything below 90/60. I have naturally low blood pressure so it’s easy for me to get too low. I’ve been measured as low as 87/49 and I felt like the world was spinning. I definitely know when I’m there (mines generally caused by me not eating or drinking enough water on bad days).

Wishing you success on the biologic!