Tapering too quickly?

@mech I think I've responded to some of your posts previously.

If you're waking up with a lot of pain, you could try splitting your dose with the majority in the morning and then a smaller dose in the evening, something like 15 and 5. If that doesn't help your pain, you might need to go to a higher dose, like 25 or 30. You need to get your PMR under control before you start to taper. And then you want to taper slowly to find the lowest dose that controls the PMR. Then you need to stay there for some time.

If splitting the dose helps, then you could think about tapering. Stepping down 1 mg every 7-10 days is probably ok until you get down to 10 mg, but you really need to slow down then. You might want to consider stepping down 1 mg every month at 10. If you taper too fast you could have a flare or run into adrenal problems.

It sounds like your rheumatologist might be trying to get you off of prednisone too quickly. If you search online, it says most people with PMR require treatment for 9 to 24 months, but some people need treatment for several years.

Thank you. I know i probably ask the same question over and over, but its so difficult. You hit the nail on yhe head. I need to get it under control. I think ill split it starting tomorrow. 15 in the morning, 5 at night. I ferl like he's trying to get me off it too quickly, and that concerned me. Thank you so much.

@mech
You are your own best judge.
Keep a journal of daily pain level, meds and timing.
That will help you make sense of it, and better judgement.

Good idea! Thank you.

@mech
It doesn’t seem like your dosage has your pain under control. If you’ve been on prednisone since October it seems you should be feeling better than what you describe. Either you didn’t start out with an adequate dose or you are tapering too quickly. I hope you find an effective combination of treatments. as the prednisone should be managing your discomfort. Be sure you are communicating your pain level to your doctor as well.
Best wishes to you!

I started with the split (20/am and 20/pm) method. I had to take sleeping pills to get to sleep. My taper was the pm dose to begin with. Once I was down to only 20mg/am, I was able to begin tapering my am dose. I’m down to 15mg/am, none at night and sleep is much better and no sleeping pills.
Let us know how your new plan works. I think/hope it will be better.

Thank you! I will.

I am tapering now. I started at 20mg and my Dr. wants me to go down 2.5 mg every 3 weeks. I am down to 15mg now and so far so good. I take two 5mg in the morning and One 5mg in the evening. I think the three week interim lets me know if there will be any adverse affects and gives me a green light or red light on proceeding to taper more.

I started at 20mg (10mg am and 10mg at 3pm) then tapering 2.5 mg every 3 weeks. I reduced the pm dose keeping the am dose at 10mg. When it was time to reduce to 12.5mg I took that entire dose in the morning so I'm no longer splitting the dose, which makes it easier. No major problems so far, and I drop to 10mg in one week. At that time I have an appt with my Rheumatologist, and I'm supposed to taper 1mg per month from that point on. I will not be bullied by the doctors and will extend the taper time if I don't feel ready. The UK site says best to taper at around 1/2mg after you get to 5mg. Because my PMR started just prior to my 83 birthday I don't feel any need to taper fast or for that matter any need to get off Prednisone entirely, but it will be great if I manage to do it.

@retiredphil Hi. I’m right behind you (about 2 weeks.)
I’ll be paying attention to how you do and following along for what I can learn.