Tapering prednisone

Just to add my two cents worth. When I got off Prednisone I still had aches and pains galore. The pain is "tolerable" and I haven't needed Prednisone for years. It helps when the pain is accounted for and there is an explanation for the pain.

My rheumatologist says I have a "full range of things" which cause pain. She asks me if I need "something" for pain. She isn't referring to prednisone like I took for years. She says there are plenty of other options to relieve pain.

I'm not a glutton for pain. Knowing what causes the pain and that there are other options besides prednisone allows me to live with my pain. Knowing the options gives me more of an idea about how much pain I can tolerate. I have been advised that surgical intervention is a better option but rather than having surgery ... I choose to live with the pain.

PMR pain had no explanation for the cause and it would hurt for absolutely no reason. When Prednisone relieved the pain it reinforced my thinking that it must be PMR.

My thinking was completely wrong. Prednisone decreases the inflammation that causes pain. There are an infinite number of things that cause inflammation and the vast majority aren't PMR.

I agree with @art43 --- "If possible, try to not start chasing random pains with varying doses of prednisone." Do communicate with your doctor if these random pains bother you too much.

I remember reading advice on the internet to increase Prednisone for "niggles of pain." That advice is totally wrong unless a medical professional agrees the niggles are PMR. Most of the time even the medical professionals won't know for sure, However, they have the tools to investigate the cause of these aches and pains rather than assuming it is PMR.

Since prednisone can give you extra energy and also hides pains that have nothing to do with PMR, the reduction of prednisone could cause some tiredness and uncover some normal discomfort. It’s hard to know what is a problem and what is part of the tapering process. I’ve been told that some soreness and stiffness is OK but pain is not. Though of course everybody’s going to have their own interpretation of that.

In my case, I try to give everything time to settle down, even though it sometimes takes me several weeks to adjust to a new dose. Going from 2 mg to 1 mg last month was the first time that I had a truly unacceptable reaction and contacted my doctor, who told me I could go back up to 1.5 mg for two weeks and try again. I stretched it to three weeks, but I’m back down to 1 mg. I’m still adjusting and feel worse than I would like, but I do feel like I’m improving every day.
Going slow can be very effective, but limiting the length of time of exposure to prednisone is definitely a factor in my thinking.

I have been trying to taper but can only get to 3 mg prednisone and then the temporal headache starts. I’m also taking 400 mg of plaquenil each day. My rheumatologist would like me to start on Actemra - does anyone have any experience or recommendations about this medication? Any allergic reaction that can be overcome? Thanks

My doctor diagnosed me with PMR in December. He only started me on 4 mg of prednisone which immediately relieved my discomfort. I had no pain at all. I’m just wondering if PMR is the actual cause of my pain. I’ve read so many things about PMR and how everyone starts at such a high dose of prednisone. I have started tapering by 1 mg every couple of weeks and I started about three weeks ago. I’m down to a dose of 2 mg and I have no pain at all. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can keep going and completely wean off of the prednisone. I just have my doubts that that was the actual cause of all my pain. I never had to go above 4 mg. And I’ve only been on it since mid December. Could it be possible that my PMR has burned itself out already in such a short amount of time? I go for blood work next week so I’m anxious to see what my inflammation numbers are. I’ll be really glad once I’m done with this medication. Has anyone with PMR ever started at such a low dose and never had to increase? Has anyone with PMR ever had their symptoms going to remission in just a few months? When I was diagnosed, I was told it could take up to two years for it to go into remission. It’s been barely 4 months. Just curious if anyone’s had the same experience as me.

similar. I started on 20mg. Quickly went to 10mg within a week. My feel good spot was 10mg. At 5 months I tapered to 5mg with no pain. Over the next month I went to zero. I had some discomfort for the next 4-5months but nothing like the PMR. It took me about 4 months to diagnose. Maybe the PMR had already started to burn out. Not sure. Not complaining.

Wow pretty fast from 20 to 10. I’m down to 10 from 30, 25, 20 then 12.5
Upper torso an shoulders are stiff/sore I want to keep going am not go back up
I hope it levels out