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Down to 1mg prednisone and then extreme fatigue sets in.
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (37)Comment receiving replies
Tapering off, 1 mg every three weeks, was the advice of my doctor. I now have an appointment with him next week. I upped my dose to 3mg and am beginning to feel less pain. If I have to stay on that, so be it. There is a waiting list of a year before I can see a rheumatologist.
Replies to "Tapering off, 1 mg every three weeks, was the advice of my doctor. I now have..."
This worked for me, maybe not for you:
Below 5, taper at 0.5 per month.
In any case, avoid starting a chase that includes bouncing balls of dosages. Find a dose…maybe your 3mg…that works, stay on it for a while, maybe at least a week, then start the 0.5 per month taper.
No matter what path you take, you can expect minor transient pains at random locations.
A rheumatologist would be nice, but is not necessary. Absent medically complicating factors requiring specialists, a PC doc with an interest in working with you and improving their skills can be sufficient.
Best of luck.
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The general advice for tapering is to reduce by no more than 10% of the current dose at a time, which means less than 1mg each reduction below 10mg. Some people reduce by 1mg per reduction till about 5mg, after which time .5mg reductions work better. (I started reducing by .5mg every 3-4 weeks at 7mg, for a 1mg reduction every 7wks or so.)
Advice (Australia) is to reduce by 1mg every 4 - 8wks under 10mg, depending on how an individual is tolerating the reduction. Slowly and surely can reduce the likelihood of flares and avoid the premature adding of other drugs which come with their own new side effects.