I am off pred!
"They" say that RAers wake up stiff and as the joints are used, the stiffness becomes less, a sure sign of RA whereas osteoarthritis feels worse with movement. Also, you may just be having pred withdrawal. Give it some time and your adrenal gland may completely kick in. Last nerves are usually in front of the next last nerve.
LEV
Hi, I'm not familiar with the 'withdrawal' from Pred that LEV described. The info I have is that if my Remicade and mtx are working THEN I can get completely off the pred? I'm at 5 down to 3-1/2 but take 1mg ,if I get stiff. My doc says, 'he doesn't want me completely off of it" until the other drugs work. I'm not expected to tough it out!, don't know? Lynda
Yeah, I have been thru the pred withdrawls... mostly for when I forget to take my pred or I just up and decide I do not want to take it that day.
It does sound like your body is wanting the pred. It should go away soon, if not you might have to go back on pred maybe a 1mg or so and see if that helps it and then try to taper off again.
I am happy that you got off of it and did not have much more to complain about other than your hand. I on the other hand have tried to taper off and everything on me swelled and hurt and I just felt so tired and sick. I HAD to go back on the pred to get to doing better.
If I was you I would talk to your RD about your concerns and see what he has to say.
Glad you got off it!
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