@eparnold0219

I split my dose when I took higher doses of 15 mg and above. I figured that much prednisone would suppress my HPA axis no matter how I took it. When I managed to get to lower doses under 10 mg, I took my entire dose in the morning. Overall ... I needed less prednisone and had 24 hour pain relief when I split my dose.

My cumulative dose over 12 years of being treated with prednisone was still massive. It took a long time for my adrenals to recover after I finally tapered off prednisone. I would have never been able to taper off prednisone without the assistance of a biologic.

After Actemra (tocilizumab) was started, I was able to taper prednisone down to 3 mg with relative ease. I didn't think I needed prednisone anymore but an endocrinologist said I shouldn't taper my prednisone dose any lower than 3 mg because my cortisol level was too low. I didn't have too much pain on 3 mg but I felt awful and the fatigue was overwhelming.