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Tapering off of Prednisone

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Feb 28 5:49am | Replies (313)

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@saltyg

I have been on 7.5mg since late January. I tapered down to 5mg from 7.5mg for one week now. I have not felt any signs of PMR except maybe a few more minutes of back stiffness in am.
Any thoughts on next dosage? Should I start now or stay with 5mg longer? I appreciate any advice…

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Replies to "I have been on 7.5mg since late January. I tapered down to 5mg from 7.5mg for..."

Many people who frequent another forum would say going from 7.5 mg to 5 mg was too big of a drop already. That other forum would advise that you never decrease more than 10% at a time. Then you should stay on the same dose for an eternity before decreasing again. You should then increase your dose for any hint of PMR returning again.

The people on that other forum consider themselves experts because of how long they have taken prednisone. In my way of thinking, they are not the experts they think they are. Those people can never seem to taper off prednisone in the time that their doctor would like to see them off prednisone. They have flares doing it their way too. It doesn't seem like a successful approach to me but it might let you feel better in the long run. The people on the other forum take pride in the fact that they have been diagnosed with PMR and have taken prednisone for 10 years or longer.

I was a person who who took prednisone for PMR for more than 12 years. I never thought of myself as being an expert. I will say approximately 5 mg is the physiological dose of prednisone that replaces the cortisol that your adrenals would normally produce. All of the various ways of tapering off prednisone will not succeed if your adrenals aren't ready to pick up the slack.

Depending on many factors related to how long and how much prednisone you have taken, consulting an endocrinologist might be useful at this stage. Adrenal insufficiency symptoms may be worse than PMR.