Connect
← Return to Tapering prednisone and stress
Discussion
Tapering prednisone and stress
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Dec 21, 2023 | Replies (25)Comment receiving replies
By mid October I was down to 15 mg . November 1 10 mg , then to 8 mg by Dec 1. My Rheumatologist was me to decrease my a milligram every 3-4 weeks. I am nervous about taking Prednisone but am very apprehensive about decreasing the dose because of the morning and late night pain. Mid day I feel pretty good.
Replies to "By mid October I was down to 15 mg . November 1 10 mg , then..."
Connect
Isn't that true - we're all worried about the harms caused by the steroids but even more worried about the disabling pain coming back. It looks like you've moved too quickly on the reductions as I did in the beginning. Pain started coming back at 8mg for me too.
I don't know what your strategy is, but wanting to avoid a full flare, I moved back to 9.5mg for a week then dropped to 9mg (the last effective dose) for 4 weeks till pain was well and truly gone. Since then I've reduced only .5mg at a time, every 3 weeks, for a 1mg reduction every 6 weeks. Now at 6.5mg, I'm still pain free with the more gradual tapering.
In the first 2-3 weeks of steroid use, reductions can be made fairly quickly, but the window of quick reductions slams shut at 3wks and it has to be more gradual after that. I don't know about you, but after the early easy reductions I was confident I could continue more quickly than the recommended schedule. I was wrong. Slow and careful is the way.