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I’m wondering is it better to keep lowering the dosage of prednisone & deal with the pains (if they’re manageable) or should one bump up the prednisone if pains continue for a couple of weeks? I’m at 3 mgs now starting to feel the low back hip pains.
Is it better to continue lowering pred OR is it acceptable for the body to feel increased inflammation ? Dr wants me off pred by March my 1 yr anniversary. I guess I can send this question thru medical portal see what he says. He seems a follow the books when it comes to pred. He hadn’t mentioned any biological etc. didn’t monitor blood pressure or the A1C.
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@kare1 . I switched Rheumatologists twice before finding one I trusted. I went off Prednisone while feeling some pain creep in below 3mg. I was on Pred for 3.5 years and I was done with the up and down roller coaster. What I learned is that the pains I was feeling while on low dosage were not PMR and I wished I had tapered completely off sooner.
Also my doctors would not prescribe the biologics because I was on such low steroid dosages towards the end.
Could be your doctor knows more than you think.
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@kare1
Without giving you any medical advice ... I don't think you should force a lower dose of Prednisone if you are having symptoms. I don't think you should automatically increase your dose either.
When I was on 3 mg of Prednisone, I was told that I shouldn't lower my dose AND to refrain from increasing my dose. It was funny ... it never occurred to me that I could stay on a 3 mg dose for a long time. I only thought in terms of increasing or decreasing my dose.
I was on a biologic called Actemra which controlled PMR.
My cortisol level was too low to taper Prednisone any lower than 3 mg.
An endocrinologist said staying on 3 mg of Prednisone was my best option until my cortisol level improved. She said as long as I could tolerate my PMR symptoms AND my adrenal insufficiency symptoms that I should NOT increase or decrease my Prednisone dose. She added that 3 mg was a low enough dose to allow for some recovery of my adrenal function so my cortisol level should improve given enough time.
After 6 months, my cortisol level improved while Actemra controlled PMR. The endocrinologist told me to simply stop prednisone. I didn't think going from 3 mg to zero without tapering was possible either. I did a fast taper going from 3 mg to zero in about a week.
My endocrinologist gave me permission to restart prednisone again if "anything happened" or if I "felt the need" to restart prednisone. She said to consult her first before restarting prednisone but in the case of an emergency that I shouldn't delay restarting prednisone. She just wanted me to keep her informed either way. She also provided me a direct number to call if anything happened after I stopped taking prednisone.