Fear
On my last week of 4mg and it has not been too bad. Sleeping much better but that might be due to the Vit B complex I have been taking for a while now. But I am finding myself a little afraid about next week on 3mg. I guess the phase, nothing to fear but fear itself comes into play on this one. I know it will be fine but it is daunting.
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) Support Group.
Good luck! Enjoy the low pred dose.
Will you go straight to 3mg or do alternate day doses for a bit to soften the reduction? I'm at 5.5mg now with no problems, despite high anxiety about reaching that dose, lower than I've been before after 21 mths on prednisolone. So I do understand your trepidation. I'm using your successes to keep me optimistic about my next .5mg reduction in a week or so. Keeping distracted with moderate physical activity outdoors and sticking strictly to healthy eating is helping.
I will take 3.5 for the first 2 days then on to the 3. The garden is waking up now so lots to do outside. I have a big sporting challenge next month which is going to hurt a bit, as it was last year during the challenge that PMR said here I am I did wonder if I should or shouldn’t, but of course I will. Swimming every morning now to keep any aches and pains away.
I was going down by 1mg, but found my body was more forgiving if i cut the 1mg tablet in 1/2. I am now off of the prednisone. Be patient and go slowly
How long were you on 4 mg.? Has it controlled your symptoms? What I've learned in this group, once you get to lower doses of Prednisone, it makes sense to reduce by .5 mg. There are extensive discussions under the topics of 'taper'. Good luck!
It took me 11 months to go from 10 to zip. I was on 4 for a couple months. It took me longer to go from 3 to 1. Good luck
5 weeks on 4mg. I have my pill cutter ready and will see how it goes on 3mg. But will defo do 2.5 for 4-5 weeks when that time comes as the 5 is easy to cut in half. Because I exercise hard nearly every day I have learnt to recognise the feeling that my body is working well the adrenal glands anyway.
What is the mg size of your tablet that you are cutting? I have 5mg tabs. Should I request 1mg tabs? It sounds like it.
Yes
My rheumatologist made it easy for me to taper by giving me prescriptions for 5, 2.5 and 1 mg tablets. I still ended up splitting 1 mg tablets during my final times tapering off for 2 different occurrences of PMR.