Confused: Tapering vs cold turkey stopping prednisone

From what I have read and learned, you should never stop Prednisone cold turkey. Taper slowly. Look at healthunlocked.com for tapering schedules. Best to you.

Yikes! I have never come across advice to stop prednisone cold turkey. Even information from Dr. Google advises a taper. I have read lots on this site re tapering that has really changed my experience. Easy does it. Nice and slow. I hope veterans on this site will direct you to some very helpful past posts on this issue. Best of luck.

@becky72, your previous discussion was moved to another discussion on the same topic. You should have received and email notification from my post here in the discussion where your previous discussion was moved
-- https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/796876/

If you are still in pain at 20mg, I would think you have two choices. Go up on the pred until you are not in pain or look for another cause of your pain. I would suggest a difficult talk with your doctor. And going "cold turkey" is not an option unless you are on it 5 days or less. If your dr. is insistent, perhaps he or she isn't the right one for you.

Thank you

These are my thoughts exactly. She was irritated that I wouldn’t start at 60. I have sight in only one eye because of severe glaucoma. So I am trying to get by with as little prednisone as possible. There is a slight chance I can get to see a rheumatologist this week if my doctor acts on it fast.if not I wait till May. But I will definitely be changing primary care doctors. Thanks so much for your comments.

Thank you for confirming what I thought .

Thank you so much. I knew from reading on here that when treating this disease you have to constantly adjust the prednisone. I am still shocked that she wasn’t aware that when you stopped the symptoms could come back if you don’t do it slowly. Not to mention all the trouble with the adrenal,gland

Hi Mary4,
Welcome to our group. I am sorry that you are on the PMR journey but hope you find the answers you need in this forum. I’ve learned a lot in the past 6 months. You should definitely not go off of prednisone cold turkey. It is supposed to be a gradual decline over time so that you allow your body to begin producing the level of cortisol that you need. I’m sure others will chime in with there thoughts but wanted to make sure that you see someone who knows how to treat PMR (hopefully rheumatologist). Blessings!

Thanks so much for the welcome . I am pretty shocked at my primary care doctor’s attitude toward steroids. As soon as I get a referral from her to see a rheumatologist i am finding a new doctor. I wouldn’t wish this pmr on anyone but am so glad I found this group.