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← Return to Tapering off of Prednisone
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I am tapering very slowly. Originally at 50mg to combat Lupus. Then gradual reduction to 10 over several months. Now I'm going down 1mg every week for final phase out.
I am finding it so hard - agony!. Depression is so deep, mood states all over the place, body can't work, sleep disturbances in the night, falling asleep during the day.
What I want to know is, how do I know if my adrenal is adjusting? Does it have to wait until I'm completely off them, or is it beginning to change now. Can someone tell me the chemistry side of it? When does the adrenal kick in?
Replies to "I am tapering very slowly. Originally at 50mg to combat Lupus. Then gradual reduction to 10..."
@tjw17 1 mg / week is a little aggressive taper. I would try for a 20% taper per month to give your adrenals time to adapt. When you get down to low doses start cutting one in half and/ or alternating every other day.
Good luck
@tjw17 You can drop from 10 to 8 mg, then drop 1 mg / (month, two weeks?) whatever you want to try.
When you get down to 4 mg then drop 0.5mg per interval.
After 2 mg you just have to proceed slowly with the remaining taper. Use half tablets and or skipping a dose every other day or every third day.
You’re just trying to avoid a relapse and having to go back up into the “ penalty box” with a higher dose again.
@tjw17
Hi. Here is a pic (graph) from the Kevzara website regarding PMR. (Don’t be confused because it has RA Site in red at the top. That is to select the RA Site. This is showing the PMR Site.)
It shows a 14 week taper to zero, starting at 15mg/day, having taken Kevzara for 38 weeks (in combination with Prednisone) prior to beginning the final taper.
Left column is weeks.
At the top is:
CS dose mg/day.
(Corticosteroid-Prednisone.)
Basically, it says to taper 2mg per week until you reach 10mg/day.
At 10mg/day, reduce by
1 mg/ per week.
For 10 weeks.
Better yet, her is a link to that page on the Kevxara website.
https://www.kevzara.com/hcp/pmr/efficacy/study-design
Good luck and best wishes.
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@tjw17 slowly over 12-18 months. Exercise and a good diet will help but it takes time.