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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR): Meet others & Share Your Story
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Sep 10 12:05pm | Replies (1906)Comment receiving replies
I was diagnosed with PMR 12 months ago and initially prescribed 20mgs of prednisolone which worked almost instantly. I began the slow (although I now realise not slow enough) taper to 4mgs in July and experienced my first flare, so after some mucking about I finally increased to 10mgs and now I am on 7.5mgs. I have learnt that once below 10mgs, one should only reduce by .5mg at a time. I couldn’t believe that .5 would make a difference but it really does. I will stay at 7.5mgs pred until after Christmas and then attempt to taper some more.
Replies to "I was diagnosed with PMR 12 months ago and initially prescribed 20mgs of prednisolone which worked..."
Good info. I too was over eager to taper and had a bad reaction, with giant cell arteritis symptoms. So back up I went to 15 mg. I have been on prednisone for 18 months, I’m sorry to say. Just at 5 mg this week and have been tapering very slowly by .5 mg/ month. I do notice the increased stiffness/ nerve pain for about a week or so after dropping the dose, but then I level off. I’m hoping to go down to zero by mid 2022.
My rheumatologist slowed my taper way down. Hope this works. toggling back and forth between comfort and misery is no fun. I was kind of treating the taper as a test of endurance, rather than a reality to be dealt with carefully. Lessons life gives us!
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I weaned myself off prednisone three or four times. I replace drugs with Green Tea, black pepper, Turmeric, Ginger, Cinnamon and a pat of butter in the tea. Two cups per day does the job.