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How are you tapering prednisone?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 5 hours ago | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
@aisp3b I assume that your pharmacy will require a new prescription with orders for dilution. It is possible that your physician, or provider, won’t know this can be done. You can refer them to this:
A typical way to order this is to write an Rx for a compounded oral suspension of methylprednisolone at a defined concentration (e.g., 5 mg/mL or 10 mg/mL), with clear total daily dose, route, and duration.
Tell them you would prefer the 5 mg/ml as it will make it easier to take a low dose
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@laura1970 Thank you for this information. I have been on methylprednisolone since early December 2024. I started at 20 mg and have done quite well all the way down to 2 mg. Methylpred only comes in 4 mg pills. I can successfully slice that pill into quarters (1mg). There is no way I can slice the pill smaller than 1mg and this is where my problem begins. I tried alternating 2mg, 1mg, 2mg, 1mg, 2mg, etc, but after that my PMR symptoms became noticeable in my neck and shoulders. At the same time, I have a bad torn meniscus in my right knee. That severe pain happened about 1 month prior to the beginning of PMR in December 2024. After starting the methylpred, my knee pain just about disappeared. Now, as I decreased the methylpred to those alternating days to try to achieve a 1.5mg dose, after 10 days, my knee pain spiked and and the PMR symptoms became noticeable again. I went back to 2mg daily dose and am doing better and so is my knee. I believe my knee pain (my knee gets very swollen when going below 2mg) is complicating or causing the PMR. On Jan 2, I will see a orthopedic doctor and 2 weeks later I will see my Rheumatologist who had advised me to return to a steady 2mg/day.