Timing of taking prednisone

My rheumatologist has me taking 5 mg in the AM & 2.5 mg in the evening. I still wake up being stiff, which lasts until afternoon. Will discuss with him if I can change when I take them. He is trying to wean me off the Prednisone.

The split dose of Prednisone really worked for me . I see these comments are the latest in a post from Feb 2023. Also, I responded quickly to Prednisone *, but required an increase above 20mg/day. I also have not relapsed , and tapered to zero mg in Sept 2024- yay ! @brooklyn1947 : It appears you have tapered from 15mg starting point to 7.5 mg, and still on a split dose. When you say "I still wake up being stiff, which lasts until afternoon" This is the state I was in from 15 mg and then an increase to 20mg total /day. -- I took medical leave from work because I did not know when the morning stiffness would subside. It seems unlikely given your comment , but have you ever thought of/ or discussed a higher dose ? it was when I increased to 30 mg /day in. split dose that I was completely rid of the stiffness of PMR !

*see the descriptions how patients respond to Prednisone in attached manuscript. ( Rapid and Sustained among others)

I was on a 5, 2.5 dosage to reduce the problem of prednisone interfering with sleep. Have you had any sleep problems with prednisone?

Luckily, I do not have any sleep problems, but I do take Trazadone for sleep. I am also lethargic, which my rheumatologists says is attributed to the inflammation

It’s individual so please do it under your Drs care so it is safe. I weaned off successfully and it took a while.

I too have same symptoms. I lay down to rest about 2-3 hours after taking & things improve. So I have just decided to start it at night.

Welcome @gertrudedallas, Glad to see that you have found Connect. It does help when you can learn what others have found helpful when dealing with PMR. There are also members who have shared that splitting their dosage of prednisone helped them with some of the symptoms. You might find it helpful to scan through the many different discussions in the PMR Support Group - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/polymyalgia-rheumatica-pmr/.

How long have you been dealing with PMR?

@gertrudedallas
I finished prednisone June 1 after 16 months tapering from 20 mg. but as to when to take it, I always did 3-4 am dose since i was usually up for the bathroom. I found I had no morning stiffness because it kicked in when i slept. Something to try.

@janetilley same here. Although I’ve only been on pref for 5 weeks for PMR, I always wake up around 3-4 AM, so I just take my dose then ( I always eat something) and vitamins I was introduced to for prednisone patients. I sleep well enough, get 6-7 hours of sleep and get to spend several hours studying my Bible before starting my day.

@bonandrods
yes I usually kept a little yogurt to eat with Pred. I’d be interested in knowing what specific PMR vitamins you take. I take a bunch but they weren’t recommended specifically for PMR. Calcium and Alendronate of course , but despite that I’ve ended up with osteoporosis. Damn.