Glad you're feeling better!
hi joonie as you say you are on 10mg for a bad flare. maybe you are now on the
combo that works best for you.. as others say. you wont know untill you try
to reduce..
good luck.. Boney
Good idea. It will probably be a long weaning process. I was on pred. for over 5 years. Getting from the big doses down to 10 mg. was fairly quick. But then it was super slow. But...I am now pred free. I am so glad to here that Remicade is working!!
BeckyI got off pred as soon as I started remicade..
I might take a weeks treatment every now and then, but otherwiswe I dont touch the stuff.
Good for you Joonie, just take it nice and slow. I was one of those people who loved pred. I had no ill effects except weight gain which I was willing to live with in exchange for pain. However, it got old - the weight gain, so i weaned myself very slowly. I was on it for a year and a half and was at 10mg when i decided i had enough. I went down 1/2 mg every two or three weeks, if pain lasted more than 2 days, I'd go back up and wait a couple of weeks and go down 1/4mg. I went slowly by bits and pieces,lol. At my appts I would tell rheumy what mg I was down to and he was happy. I never did ask if I could go off, but now that Im done with it, he knows I will never take it again.
Best wishes girlie! hugs too!
Deb
Good luck with the pred taper, Joonie. As everyone has said, do a slow taper. When I was coming off of it, my RD gave me a dx for 1 mg tabs so that i could control the rate of taper. I did the same thing as owiemom reducing by 1/2 mg's at a time.... I used a pill splitter to get the 1/2 mg's.wow only 1/2 a mg? I'm at 10 and I thought my doctor said I would go down 1 mg now but I'm waiting for him to call.
I want off! Besides the appetite, I thought the "whisker" problem ended pretty much since I got down on my dosage but my eyes are not too good close up with my contact lenses in.
This weekend while they were out I got a close up look at my face and was horrified to see black hairs on my face near my ear and jaw line! I don't know how long they've been there! I don't even know if it's all that noticable and I don't want to call anybodys attention to it if they haven't seen it LOL!
Thanks everyone for your encouragement!
Remicade still seems to wear off 2 weeks before my next infusion, but it is not as intense as when it was 200mg and wearing off. The stiffness is the worst for me. I can take the pain, but the stiffness and the pain that comes along with trying to move stiff joints is just not my favorite.
I will talk to RD Thursday about getting off the pred.
joonie
you are not scared of those needles any more!!!
anna
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