1. < Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR)

Tapering prednisone

Posted by farnhamlaf1 @farnhamlaf1, Apr 1 10:11am

I started at 30 mg after I think three weeks went down to 25 2 1/2 weeks later 20 then I went down to 15 after 2 1/2 weeks I was a little sore in my neck after 2 1/2 more weeks I went down to 12 five but the soreness went down to my chest and my back so I went back to 15 but I’m still sore. Do I have to go back up to 20mgs

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noti | @noti | 3 days ago
In reply to @susanalka "I started prednisone at 10mg. My tapering schedule is reducing 1mg every 4 weeks. From what..." + (show)
@susanalka

I started prednisone at 10mg. My tapering schedule is reducing 1mg every 4 weeks. From what I’ve read here, many startreducing by .5mg. I was doing great until 7mg when I started to feel fatigue, discomfort in one shoulder, pelvis and back of legs. I’m wondering if the schedule is too fast, maybe I should be reducing by .5. So far the discomfort is manageable but I’m nothing close to feeling myself.

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Since prednisone can give you extra energy and also hides pains that have nothing to do with PMR, the reduction of prednisone could cause some tiredness and uncover some normal discomfort. It’s hard to know what is a problem and what is part of the tapering process. I’ve been told that some soreness and stiffness is OK but pain is not. Though of course everybody’s going to have their own interpretation of that.

In my case, I try to give everything time to settle down, even though it sometimes takes me several weeks to adjust to a new dose. Going from 2 mg to 1 mg last month was the first time that I had a truly unacceptable reaction and contacted my doctor, who told me I could go back up to 1.5 mg for two weeks and try again. I stretched it to three weeks, but I’m back down to 1 mg. I’m still adjusting and feel worse than I would like, but I do feel like I’m improving every day.
Going slow can be very effective, but limiting the length of time of exposure to prednisone is definitely a factor in my thinking.

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1 reply
janetilley | @janetilley | 3 days ago
In reply to @art43 "From 10 to 5, I tapered at 1 per month. Most random discomforts were during this..." + (show)
@art43

From 10 to 5, I tapered at 1 per month. Most random discomforts were during this period.
From 5 to zero, at 0.5 per month. Very few incidents of random pain.
Below 10, never tempted to delay the taper or increase the dose. Tylenol, an an occasional 125 Ibuprofen (once I was below 3, and wirh docs agreement/permission) worked for me.
If possible, try to not start chasing random pains with varying doses of prednisone.
Good luck. Some is needed.

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I tapered from 20mg to 3mg in one year. Then got stuck mid-Feb at 3. I kept venturing to 2.5 with no luck. Doc just gave me an RX for Celebrex. But also with a stomach protector as NSAIDS and Prednisone are a bad combo for the stomach. I hope to taper to 0 by summer. We’ll see!

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farnhamlaf1 | @farnhamlaf1 | 2 days ago

Today I’m going from 12.5 mg to 10 mg. My neck is sore/stiff but Tylenol helps with that. Fingers crossed on lower dose

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1 reply
susanalka | @susanalka | 2 days ago
In reply to @farnhamlaf1 "Today I’m going from 12.5 mg to 10 mg. My neck is sore/stiff but Tylenol helps..." + (show)
@farnhamlaf1

Today I’m going from 12.5 mg to 10 mg. My neck is sore/stiff but Tylenol helps with that. Fingers crossed on lower dose

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I’m going from 7 mg to 6 mg today. I have soreness too and use Tylenol. I think I complained to my dr too soon, She immediately said I could go back to higher dose. I decided to try 6 mg for a few more days. I’m keeping my fingers crossed too.. good luck

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1 reply
DadCue | @dadcue | 2 days ago
In reply to @noti "Since prednisone can give you extra energy and also hides pains that have nothing to do..." + (show)
@noti

Since prednisone can give you extra energy and also hides pains that have nothing to do with PMR, the reduction of prednisone could cause some tiredness and uncover some normal discomfort. It’s hard to know what is a problem and what is part of the tapering process. I’ve been told that some soreness and stiffness is OK but pain is not. Though of course everybody’s going to have their own interpretation of that.

In my case, I try to give everything time to settle down, even though it sometimes takes me several weeks to adjust to a new dose. Going from 2 mg to 1 mg last month was the first time that I had a truly unacceptable reaction and contacted my doctor, who told me I could go back up to 1.5 mg for two weeks and try again. I stretched it to three weeks, but I’m back down to 1 mg. I’m still adjusting and feel worse than I would like, but I do feel like I’m improving every day.
Going slow can be very effective, but limiting the length of time of exposure to prednisone is definitely a factor in my thinking.

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" It’s hard to know what is a problem and what is part of the tapering process. I’ve been told that some soreness and stiffness is OK but pain is not. Though of course everybody’s going to have their own interpretation of that."
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"Going slow can be very effective, but limiting the length of time of exposure to prednisone is definitely a factor in my thinking."
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I would say your interpretation is accurate! Minimal pain or tolerable pain is acceptable to me. There is a certain threshold and duration of pain that isn't acceptable. Sometimes low levels of pain for a long time is unacceptable too. This is especially true if the pain is being caused by chronic inflammation.

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farnhamlaf1 | @farnhamlaf1 | 1 day ago
In reply to @susanalka "I’m going from 7 mg to 6 mg today. I have soreness too and use Tylenol...." + (show)
@susanalka

I’m going from 7 mg to 6 mg today. I have soreness too and use Tylenol. I think I complained to my dr too soon, She immediately said I could go back to higher dose. I decided to try 6 mg for a few more days. I’m keeping my fingers crossed too.. good luck

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Good luck to you.
I’m pretty stiff an sore around my chest area, but I want to give it a few days as well. I don’t have that weird body rush feeling with 10mgs. But I have the belly fat😩

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1 reply
wfroslansky | @wfroslansky | 1 day ago

I have been on 3mg for three weeks and am just starting to feel as strong and stable as I felt on 4mg. Just gonna keep on tapering at 1mg per month. I take morning naps sometimes and that seems to help in addition to an afternoon nap.

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susanalka | @susanalka | 22 hours ago
In reply to @farnhamlaf1 "Good luck to you. I’m pretty stiff an sore around my chest area, but I want..." + (show)
@farnhamlaf1

Good luck to you.
I’m pretty stiff an sore around my chest area, but I want to give it a few days as well. I don’t have that weird body rush feeling with 10mgs. But I have the belly fat😩

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Hang in there!

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