← Return to Tapering off of Prednisone
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Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Feb 28 5:49am | Replies (313)
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Replies to "I began my journey 9/24/21 with 40mg Prednisone fast forward to 11/1/22 @ 3mg AM 1mg..."
My problem turned out to be #3 adrenal insufficiency which can only be established when you can maintain a prednisone dose of approximately 3 mg. Symptoms of adrenal insufficiency seem to surface when you get to about 7 mg of prednisone and gradually get worse. The symptoms mimic PMR so I thought I was having a flare anytime I got under 10 mg of prednisone.
Just for clarity, prednisone replaces the cortisol that your body needs. A low cortisol level has widespread symptoms including muscle and joint pain. Extreme fatigue was what I noticed the most. I was used to having muscle and joint pain and I thought it was PMR. In a sense, it was PMR because cortisol regulates inflammation. When my cortisol level got low as I decreased my prednisone dose, my inflammation level increased so it was called a "flare."
The following link describes what cortisol does. Cortisol regulates many things. Prednisone is not a good substitute for cortisol.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol