I had an appt with my rheumatologist yesterday. It was like a breath of fresh air. I started at 20 mg in Dec and got stuck at 8 and then went down to 7.5 anyway and was not only stuck but at an uncomfortable level of pain.
He said he’s baffled by the rush to taper down quickly. That the disease runs its own course. That on the average it takes 18 months to get below 5 mg a day comfortably. The first 6 months the goal should be 10-20 mg. The 2nd 6 months it should be 8-10 mg and then tapering down to 2.5-5 mg a day until it becomes feasible, if it does, to stop altogether.
I happily went back up to 10 this morning per his instructions and my pain level has dropped.
I’ll be going down to 9 mg, again per his instructions, in 8 days.
His attitude - why suffer unnecessarily? Some people have harmful side effects and should find a different alternative but most of us have minor, often aesthetic, side effects that is offset by relief from pain, return to mobility and functioning.