Connect
← Return to I wanna stop taking methotrexate and prednisone.
Discussion
I wanna stop taking methotrexate and prednisone.
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: 7 hours ago | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
I stopped taking my methotrexate. I didn’t think it was doing anything. I’m down to 6.5mg of prednisone. I’m a little stiff in the morning, but as the day goes on, it’s less than less mostly down around my pelvic area and behind my knees I’m gonna keep trying to reduce by half that seems to be better than reducing by a hole, any other thoughts?
Replies to "I stopped taking my methotrexate. I didn’t think it was doing anything. I’m down to 6.5mg..."
Connect
@farnhamlaf1 As they say in Spain, "poco a poco." A little bit at a time. I started my treatment for PMR at 15 mg. of prednisone every day. After a month or so, the rheumatologist wanted to also put me on methotrexate, but I felt the potential side effects (given my history) were not worth the risk.
That was three years ago this October. Every time I tried to reduce the prednisone by more than 1.25 mg (typically after 2-3 months) I had a serious flare which took 15-25 days to get the pain and mood swings back under control.
I now live in a different city with a new rheumatologist. He is much more conservative in reducing the prednisone. I'm now alternating between 2.5 mg and 1.25 mg every other day, since August 1. I'm just now getting over the terrible mood swings that I get when reducing, although this time the body pain has been much less than other times. I do believe that with prednisone tapering, slow but steady wins the race. ...as long as you don't have any other complications from taking long-term prednisone, that is!