Anyone have discomfort or pain when tapering off prednisone?

Hi there, I am on a nine week tapering off the Prednisone. From a very high dosage I have now come down to 3mg one day 4 mg the next, then one week of 3 mg and on and on till after 1 mg it’s finished. In am feeling pain I haven’t had for a long time but I just want to get rid of this awful steroid. Good luck to you. Margaret

This is the correct approach. Diagnose the the problem, then devise the treatment.
All pain is not PMR pain.
Besides MRI, ultrasound and/or Xray are available for diagnosis.
Good post.

“Anyone have pain when tapering…?”
Of course you will. My rheumy told me in my first appointment that there will be pain. But if we do this right, it will not be PMR pain, and we will diagnose it and deal with it at the time. Stick with the taper schedule, and do not independently alter you dosage if something hurts.
I stuck with it, and things are working out. Tapered from 30 to 10 at 5 per two weeks, then down 1 per month to 5. Then down 0.5 per month to 3 at present. Various pain levels along the way that were not PMR. Wrist pains were osteoarthritis, per xray, now gone.
Keep an open mind, and do not automatically reach for the prednisone bottle. If you are at a low dose, your doc might agree to an occasional NSAID if taken with an antacid. Do not do this without permission.
This is working for me, but might not for you. Become knowledgeable, and work with your doc. Best of luck. It is needed.

I was on prednisone for two years. I have now been off of it from July 1. About
a year ago. I started to note that my legs were very weak. My legs continue to be weak actually getting weaker. The only good thing has been that I started losing weight, about 20 days ago and have lost 5 pounds of the 20 I have gained. I thought my knee pain which never before was caused by the extra 20 lbs they have to support. They say I have cortico steroid myopathy. It could take a year although some people get rid of it weeks or months after stopping prednisone. It was on this site that someone recommended articles which I have down loaded and am very grateful for . Tylenol celebrex dual action do not seem to help. Cymbalta reduces the middle of night muscle mini tingling that is so annoying that it wakes me up at 3 am . I try doing squats and exercises every day to strengthen my legs. Have not returned to pt because I don’t know how they can treat the 5 parts of my body that hurts including my neck which might be from a very old neck injury. Has anyone gotten acupuncture? What kind of results have you had . That is my next step

Well; I'm new to this PMR/Prednisone episode but have the same "weak leg" syndrome, like shaky weak, can't walk, unstable, etc. I also have pain in my prior surgical, Abbot Spinal Implant rear back area as if it is being attacked? I also gained 7 pounds, but now lost that along with my appetite. I take a Chemo orally, along with use of Tramadol for my back pain, which is timed accordingly to be spaced from the Prednisone intake, best for me at 5 A.M. but leaving me Lethargic until late afternoons and evening times. Personally, I believe this to be mostly attributed to the Prednisone, not all on the PMR? I have no advise from doctors so am controlling my Prednisone Weaning myself at the expense of learning right or wrong. I hope no one else has to do as I am. I would check interaction of all muscle relaxers or OTC meds before mixing with the Prednisone, try elevating your legs with a pillow while sleeping, also your neck and see if that helps. Celebrex never helped me, but Tizanidine does when I have to take that-hopefully never. I have found squats from a sitting position, in a chair, using your arms straight, braced on each arm of the chair and doing like a raise from sitting to sitting-push up tyoe does wonders for legs, arms and core.

Little so hope you get this. Were you able to get off the prednisone? I self diagnosed bc my dr said it was fibromyalgia and I can’t get to a rheumatologist until mid April. But a no brainer to me. I was on prednisone for 30 years! Tapered off per my dr. And I’ve had nothing but problems ever since pain pain every inch of me I’ve lost all my muscles my bones even hurt!
Steroid induced myopathy sux I’ll never take another prednisone again.

I’m tapering on 10mg of prednisone week 2 and I have shoulder pain a neck stiffness.
I don’t wanna go back up so I wanna give it another week. Some people are splitting the doses five in the morning at five at night. I wonder if that would work any comments

How much did you drop by to get to 10mg? A fairly large drop can cause new pain/stiffness. Is the pain and stiffness only in the morning or all day? If it's mainly in the morning, a split dose might help.

Everyone who splits their dose to control morning pain seems to do it a bit differently. Most of the dose is best taken in the morning when the body would normally produce cortisol. From the advice I found on split doses before doing it myself, no more than one third of the dose should be taken later in the day, and not so much in the later dose that sleep is affected.

When I was up around the dose you're taking I took most of the pred in the morning and 2mg with dinner and it controlled morning pain. Currently I'm down to 4mg, taken as 3mg morning & 1mg with dinner and there is no pain, just occasional morning stiffness or slight aches which pass.

I started at 30 went down to 25 went down to 20 went down to 1512.5 and then 10 I’m gonna try your advice so I take the 10 mg tablet and cut it into thirds?

12.5 error