Struggling to taper steroids and tips please

@jodipat77 I'm glad your daughter's RA is controlled enough to taper the prednisolone, but after so long using it, her body is struggling to catch up. When she was first tapering from larger amounts, the %age reduction with each step down was less than now on lower doses. Perhaps a more gradual taper, like going from 2mg to 1.75, then 1.5, etc would be easier for her body? It will require pill cutting or shaving to get the lower dose, but might be easier. My friend with another autoimmune disorder was never able to go below 2mg without major flaring. Your daughter may have to resign herself to staying on a very low dose.
When I taper prednisone, I must remember to stay very well hydrated and often need short term pain relivers in addition to my RA meds.
Does her doctor support fully stopping in spite of her side effects?

Good luck. Is she taking any good vitamin supplements to counteract what the prednisone is taking away? Prednisone depletes a lot of needed vitamins. Also depletes the body from making it's own cortisol, at least that's what I read. She may need to reduce the amount of prednisone from 3 to 2.75 to 2.50 to 2.25, .... What I have learned as you reduce the amount you need to do this; the first week alternate the dose so Mon 3.0 Tues 2.75 Weds 3. Thurs 2.75 Fri 3. Sat 2.75 Sun 3. then the next days/ week(s) 2.75
Good luck I'm not a dr, nurse nor pharmacist but how learned how my body adapts to this change

I have PMR and SMM. I've been using 3mg LDN for the past 3 weeks during my prednisone tapering. I'm at 9mg now. I was at 12.5mg when I started the LDN. I plan to be at 5mg in 4 weeks. Somewhere under 5mg I may need a morning cortisol test to see if my adrenals are starting to wake up.

@sueinmn thank you for your reply. Yes her consultant is keen for her to come off them due to her age he said they are not a good drug to stay on given the damage they can cause to bones etc. I do have a pill cutter so will try her with half tablets to continue tapering. She has been pretty stable on 3mg but think her body reacts when a change even small. I will also buy some supplements for her. My dad (her grandad) has been on 5mg for 20+ years and now that's considered his normal and has to stay on them for life. A great short term drug but boy getting off them when long term really does duck

Prednisone comes in different amounts and can be cut in half. Drinking a lot of water also helps. Forgot to mention this earlier

Thank you will get her to drink lots more. We are in the UK and a bit sparse with info sometimes. My friend is greek and she is told to cut out sugar and salt when on steroids but never been told anything like that here. Will stock up on supplements and lots of water for her thank you

When cutting pills in half, make sure they are you scored. If they are not scored they are not meant to be split. The actual meds are not always distributed evenly throughout the unscored pills and so you could end up with more or less of the meds than you were trying to take. Your pharmacist can provide more information.

@kjoed53 Thank you for that reminder. According to my pharmacist, the doctor can specify splitable tablets.

@sueinmn
It can be hard to remember all these things and I never would have thought of this before I started prednisone

Can I suggest a longer and slower taper. Go back to the last dose without side effects and start again. If you have a pharmacist, you can also ask them to halve doses which might help