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← Return to Tapering off of Prednisone
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Hello @flymetothemoon, Welcome to Connect. I saw in your first post that you have been dealing with PMR for more than 3 years. I agree, tapering off of prednisone is a slow process and everyone is different. Much like you, it took me 3 and half years to taper off of prednisone with the last 6 months going back and forth between 1 mg and 1/2 mg until I could finally stop taking it with little to no pain in the morning when I woke up.
I was diagnosed by a rheumatolgist but my primary care doc was always asking me if I had any scalp pain, pain in the temple area or vision problems for the reason you mentioned worrying that it might be Giant Cell Arteritis.
Do you keep track of your pain and dosage in a daily log?
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Hi. I only keep track in my head, since I see my Rheumatologist every 6 weeks. My husband is an Ophthalmologist, and has a lot of patients with this condition. There is no pattern to my pain and dosage is regulated. This is the second time I am tapering off. When I was first having the pain in the beginning it didn't show up in my blood tests, but when it finally did, my CRP and Sed rate were extremely high. Scary, and my husband got involved before I saw the Rheumatologist. I've never had scalp pain. In beginning it was hips and shoulders. Now its my shoulders and hands (which happens in rare cases). My Rheumatologist emphasizes that we treat the condition and not symptoms, as long as the pain is bearable. I just want to be off these steroids since they damage the bones and raise the blood sugars. Not fun.