Tapering off of Prednisone

Rosemary @rosemarya that's a very good tip. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you to @johnbishop, @rosemarya, and @hopeful33250 for you comments. I feel really pleased to have found you, and to have a place where I can check in for reassurance, all the way from Perth, Australia. I’ll stay in touch.

Hello again, just checking to give an update and see how others are going. Last time I spoke, I was about to reduce my 20mg dose of prednisone down to 17.5. I did that with success for a week, so ventured on to reduce to 15mg. I have now been on that since New Year’s Day. I am feeling well and pain free. I have my first rheumatologist appointment on Thursday 10th Jan, and she will tell me how to progress. I am tempted to reduce again tomorrow to 12.5mgs, as it has been a week. No bad effects, I am feeling good. What do you think about my plan?

Hi @jules11, I'm glad to hear the tapering off of prednisone is going well. I'm not a doctor and have no medical training but you are doing exactly what I did. Sometimes I was successful and sometimes not so much. Each of us are a little different when it comes to tapering off of prednisone, so if you can go down another 2.5 mg after a week of no pain I would say go for it. Worse case is you will need to bump it up a little. The only caution I would have is to not get to excited about getting off prednisone too quickly. Your body will tell you when it's too much too quick. We just have to listen closely ☺

Hope you have a pain free day!

Hi. Ive just joined this forum. Im 74, man, live in New Zealand. I experience pain from arthritis in a hip and lower back. The pain is ever-present, and been gradually getting worse over about 35 years. My doctor prescribed Prednisone at 2.5mg/day for an allergy (hay fever). I am amazed that it has also reduced the chronic pain, by about 50% - as well as making me feel much more energetic. There are no adverse effects apparent.
So, of course I am thinking how it would improve my life if I could feel like that all the time. This discussion group has been mainly about withdrawing from Prednisone, which is interesting to me. But I would love to hear from anyone who knows about using Prednisone long term, indefinitely, at the very low dose of 2.5mg. Thanks. Rex.

Hi Rex @rexbeer, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Prednisone is that magic pill for arthritis. I have polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) which is currently in remission. I have had two occurrences of PMR six years apart. Both were treated starting with 20 mg prednisone dosage. The first time it took me about 3 years to taper off of prednisone. The second occurrence it took me about 1-1/2 years to taper off. The biggest side effect I had was weight gain - about 50+ pounds the first time but knowing that the second time I was able to make some lifestyle changes that helped me control the weight gain. I was able to keep it between 5 and 10 pounds. Mayo Clinic has some information here:

Prednisone and other corticosteroids
-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/steroids/art-20045692

Two of the long term effects I already have but I'm not sure if the two uses of prednisone were to blame - thin bones (osteoperosis) and thin skin. I'm forever bumping into things with my arms and surprised to see a trickle of blood or a wound and I never even felt what caused it. I had figured it was part of my aging at 75. I think it might depend on if you are in a high risk group but I'm not sure. I did find a study that talks to this point a little...

Monitoring long-term oral corticosteroids | BMJ Open Quality
-- https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/6/2/e000209

Have you asked your doctor what they think about any long term side effects that might apply to you?

Try advil or excedrin without aspirin .

John that was a helpful post or three. I've only just found the forum. I suffer from HUVS but seem to be in remission. After taking Prednisone for over 10 years I suffer from thin skin (cataracts and glaucoma as well of course). I've just about got down to 5mg after 4 months. I'm interested to know if my skin will recover?

Thank you @rolph. Welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I had not heard of Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis syndrome (HUVS) but did find some information about it:

Hypocomplementemic urticarial vasculitis
-- https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/6725/hypocomplementemic-urticarial-vasculitis

You ask a really good question on whether or not the skin will recover. I'm sure it's different for each of us. I have no medical training or background but I think more and more that it also has to do with aging so if you are fairly young I would think chances are better. I'm an old codger so I just try and take it one day at a time and do what I can to keep it from getting worse. One of the things I try to do to help with the thin skin problem is keep the skin well hydrated with a good skin lotion or creme. Mayo Clinic has some good tips here to consider:

-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/expert-answers/thin-skin/faq-20057753

Hoping some others will chime in with their suggestions.

Definitely not young John! But the skin effect is a strange sort of wrinkling. One of my nurses father has the same effect so it is primarily down to the Prednisone. Certainly be interested in other experiences. I did read somewhere that a cream containing urea will actually hydrate to some extent, as opposed to most creams which seem only to slow down moisture loss due to the barrier they provide. Can't find the reference though I'm afraid.