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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Feb 3 11:37am | Replies (56)
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It is so fascinating to see how people react differently. I am 86 years old and have been on Prednisone for 10 years. When I was on 60mg I was bloated and overactive and had difficulty sleeping but that was a fairly short time 6 months. Once I was on lower Fision’s I was great. Still playing pickle ball, walking every day, bone density is good. Cholesterol within the norm. BUT I have a question.
I was on 5 mg and two days ago had a big flare up of my GCA. I jumped to 25 mg and today am doing fine.
MY QUESTION: how quickly can I go down? Can I go to 20mg tomorrow?? Stay a week then 15 mg etc… My Dr is of absolutely NO HELP.
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"I was on 5 mg and two days ago had a big flare up of my GCA. I jumped to 25 mg and today am doing fine.
MY QUESTION: how quickly can I go down? Can I go to 20mg tomorrow?? Stay a week then 15 mg etc… My Dr is of absolutely NO HELP."
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You really need a medical specialist to answer this question. Don't be deceived by "feeling fine" after you increased your dose from 5 mg to 25 mg. People who are doing fine don't need to take prednisone to feel fine. I know how prednisone works. One of the side effects is a false sense of well being.
In my opinion, that is the trap people fall into ... myself included. I took prednisone whenever I didn't feel fine. I was doing a disservice to myself because there were better solutions than prednisone for some of my conditions.
As it turned out ... my case of PMR is now being treated with a biologic that works much better for me. I learned so much after I tapered off prednisone. Until then I had no idea what all prednisone was doing to me.
I do know that none of my problems were ever solved during my twelve years of being treated with "long term" prednisone for PMR. I try to differentiate between long term use of prednisone and short term of prednisone. Short term Prednisone use didn't seem to cause me any additional problems like long term use did.