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Shortness of breath ..dyspenia..while on prednisone
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (16)Comment receiving replies
As per the taper: I started with 20mg Perd. and tapered 2.5mg each 30 days.
All was going well until I went from 10 to 7.5. Symptoms came back immediately. I went back to 10, and symptoms went away in 2 days. After some research, I found that the taper, after 10mg should be 1 mg each 30 days. I'm down to 6mg starting on Tuesday. I fired the Rheumatogist, as he refused to prescribe 1mg tablets, and insisted I take 7.5mg, even with the severe symptoms.
My new problem is that I've starting to feel weakness in the legs and dizzy. Not sure if this is a PMR problem or Prenisone? Or maybe something else.
Since doctor appointments are 3 - 4 weeks away, I can't get any help in the near term.
Replies to "As per the taper: I started with 20mg Perd. and tapered 2.5mg each 30 days. All..."
I can appreciate your concern. On my taper from 20 mg of 1 mg per month, I got down to 2 mg and had a bad reaction. Dr. said to go back to 5 but I didn't wnt to go that far back so only went to 3. After a couple of months I tapered down to 0. For four days, I felt some energy return and my brain became more clear. I then went to see my primary care doctor who gave me a COVID 19 booster and my weakness and mental fog has returned. I don't know if the injection had anything to do with the relapse, but I'm hoping the improvements will return eventually. At least I seem to be through with Prednisone, God willing.
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"I fired the Rheumatogist, as he refused to prescribe 1mg tablets, and insisted I take 7.5mg, even with the severe symptoms. My new problem is that I've starting to feel weakness in the legs and dizzy. Not sure if this is a PMR problem or Prenisone? Or maybe something else."
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Probably not PMR if those symptoms weren't present at the start of PMR. I hate to say this but be prepared for a plethora of new symptoms after you taper down to less than 7 mg of prednisone. Those symptoms are probably caused by "long term" prednisone use. When you decrease your Prednisone dose too quickly you experience withdrawal symptoms.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322536#symptoms
Being dizzy all the time was a big problem for me when I tapered off Prednisone. My blood pressure dropped when I stood up too quickly. This problem was compounded by being on 3 blood pressure medications to control my high blood pressure when I was taking higher doses of Prednisone.
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What was your rheumatologist's rationale for not prescribing 1 mg tablets of prednisone? Never mind .. not prescribing 1 mg tablets isn't rational.