The lowest effective dose, how is it defined?

Posted by megz @megz, Aug 6, 2023

Since starting on 15mg of prednisolone for PMR on 10th May (12wks ago), my sole focus has been to "reduce to the lowest effective dose in the shortest possible time" as per the drug company's directive to minimise side effects and reduce the overall cumulative dosage.

I'm now at 8mg and the pain has returned after practically no pain, It's at tolerable levels but disappointing after having been pain free. I assume I've reached the lowest effective dose, or maybe overshot it by 1mg by reducing so quickly. So what is an "effective" dose?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) Support Group.

mike5513 | @mike5513 | 5 days ago

I started on 15mg and stayed there for about 2 months, and slowly reduced to 7mg, only started getting severe pains again. By the 3rd day on this level,
I had to increase to 9mg. After a month, reduce by 1mg, then another 1 mg a month later. But oh no, the pain came back worse than before, so I am sticking to 9mg for a long time. So far, it has been 6 months, and plucking up the courage to reduce again by another 1mg for a while yet.