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Prednisone tapering: How did you do it pain free?
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (76)Comment receiving replies
I am 83 and it was too fast for me to drop down 1 mg per month. I started at 25 mg in December 2024. I had a flare at 7 mg and he put me back up to 9 mg. I didn't like that. Since then I am doing a .5 mg, drop, with his permission, every 2 to 3 weeks. It is much slower but now I am at 5.5 mg. This is the point where they say you can really start to feel the pain because your adrenals are starting to wake up. So slow dosage drop or not, that's what I am doing. Truly, I am getting creaky when I wake up, and it takes about 45 minutes and a very strong cup of coffee, to get going. Plus an extra strength Tylenol if I really, really need it. But I would rather weather it out with some pain than have to go back up to a higher dosage again, just to encourage myself to do the slower taper. My hair is starting to grow back and my moon face is going down, so fingers crossed. We just came back from a 12-day cruise, which also included 11-hour flights to and from Europe, and weathered it fine, thank goodness.
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@elizabethannr If you are on a 3 week schedule you might try what I did when I got below 5mg. During week one I would alternate between the lower dose and then the higher dose two to three times during that week. Then weeks 2 and 3 stay on the lower dose. I hit my pain wall around 3.5mg. You could also go to a 4 week schedule since you are in the final lap and that is the challenge lap for your adrenals.
I have tried more than once to get off of prednisone and it eludes me. I was recently Dx with GCA yet never had any symptoms so we are now trying to find me a biologic I can tolerate.
Fighting PMR unfortunately seems to become a full time job. I go on 2 cruises a year and have started looking for cruises that depart and/or return to a US port. The Panama Canal was my choice this year. My third time thru and still as fascinating as the first time.
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@elizabethannr and all... What in the world? You were on a 12-day cruise and 11 hour flights?????
My goodness... You are surely doing well. I ccan't travel at all anymore. Not even week-end jaunts to near-by places I enjoy without edema issues and icreased pain, putting me in bed for a day or two. You are remarkable.
Also, with the auto-immune issues and Prednisone, I don't dare get around groups of folks with new germs. I am extremely sensitive to infection and sepsis comes shortly often, so I live a severely isolated life, as most did during Covid. I live that life almost constantly. But, enjoy my flowers and made my upstairs into a nice, comfortable bubble. My outside connections are online, texting, zooming, videos to keep my brain active and vocabulary near... and to stay on top of world events. I learn every day from YouTube about make-up for older women, fierce women! You are one, as am I!
Oh, the .5 mg reduction helps me greatly. Slow is fine now that I adjust my attitude and accept the situation. Slow in this case is ideal... ess
Bless you and may you continue to keep moving and be the healthiest you possible!
Elizabeth