Stopping Pred | Arthritis Information

Has anyone ever gone from 2.5mgs to nothing? My RD has told me I can stop the Pred ( yaaaah!!) and I have been on the 2.5mgs for 2 months now. I am sure I have read of some of you cutting the tabs in half and alternating between a whole and a half for a few weeks.

Lyn . Really a teensy bit afraid that some of the symptoms I have coming back, will increase. I have come down from 10mgs past 8 months.

Oh well, I will give it a try and see!

Lyn Good for you-decreasing is always hard. Honestly, you might feel a bit rotten a few days. There were times that I would take 1mg when if felt the headache coming on that I always got when decreasing. It seemed to help.I never got below 2 mgs. I tapered from 40 down to 2 over the course of about a year. Then I had a flare and I had to go back up to 10. It didn't do for me what it once did and I have tapered down to 7. I am only allowed a 1 mg drop every 2 to 4 weeks based on how I feel. Since I don't feel good on it- I have been tapering every 2 weeks anyway. I want off. I tapered from 5 mg, but for even a shorter duration than you. My RD had me alternate 5 mg every other day and 0 every other day. At first, it hurts but then your body adjusts. I found that I actually hurt the days I took pred but not the days I skipped because of the delayed effect. I would alternate until you are relatively symptom-free. I think the motivation to taper off is so that you have prednisone in your back pocket for later when you need it. Good luck!

wtbraf.....I have only had one flare since DX and that was a year ago and a massive one it was. I know I have been very lucky so far and hopefully these damned things happening right now (bad shoulders, knees, wrists) wont get worse with stopping the Pred. I guess I am assuming that it is such a small dose ( less than the amount we produce naturally I think?) that it will go unnoticed! And really, given that I am able to do everything I want with only some discomfort, Im sure that will be the case.

But, I am sorry that you havent been able to get off the stuff. Hopefully this taper will work for you this time. I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Have to admit that I do love what it it for me tho'.

Lyn I dont have 1mg tabs Stephen but you are right, maybe if I just break them in half and go from there. Im due back to the RD in 2 months and he has also cut my Plaquenil to 200 mgs daily from 400, just found that out when I picked up my script from regular Doc a couple of weeks ago. Hmmmmm, I forgot about that actually!! Maybe explains why I am getting some problems back. Still on the 2000mgs Sulfasalazine daily tho'.

Lyn Lyn

I have never taken Pred but well done for getting down so low. I hope you get to stop altogether with no side effects and that you suffer no flare ups or probelms without it.

Take care

Lisa

Has anybody ever had there Adrenal Glands checked that has been on Pred for a long time. I'm thinking that if you are tapering off maybe your Adrenals may not be working that well. What test would you take ? There is probably blood work that they could do. I was on pred for 5 yrs. I tapered very slowly, under the dr's direction, to allow the adrenal glands to begin functioning again. I know that they dr. can tell by symptoms if there is a major problem with the glands.Well, my rheumy prescribed prednisone (burst and taper pack) and I chickened out

I am working on reducing the pred. I am ready to get off of it, but it does help with my inflammation still. Not as well as it did in the beginning, but it does help. It also helps with my stiffness ALOT!

Another thought would be to try to go to an every other day dose of 2.5mg and see if that works out. Of course this would have to be given the ok by your doc but it's something to think about. It might also lessen any side effects you may have even at this low a dose.

Oh yes, there are labs that can be done to assess adrenal gland function. Most of these require that you not be on steroids at the time of testing though. There is a serum cortisol level test, and also one called dexamethasone suppression test that can be done to check the response of the adrenal glands to ACTH. I'm sure there are others but we never covered much of this when I was in tech school so I really don't know a lot about them.

Bob

Hi Lyndee....When you get down to 5 mg and under the adrenal glands are suppose to kick in and the Dr. should check for that. We had a method of reducing that would be 1 day new dose, next 2 days old dose and repeat 1 more time before going over to the new dose. I was lucky that I could buy 1 mg. pills but those that could not would even quarter the 5 mg pill.. Even being below 5 mg. I was given strict orders to reduce 1 mg. every three weeks and that was after the PMR was gone. Pred can be a dirty little devil and let you know in no uncertain terms that tapering should be a slow process.

Good luck.

Pat

TeedOff2009-04-29 09:25:47Thanks for all the info and advice, and its going on 2 days since I posted this thread and I havent done anything to reduce yet! lolol...talk about a scaredy cat.

And I really am thinking reducing to just the 200mgs of Plaq has probably contributed to my now worsening wrist/hands, bugga it. Hard to take when I have been SO good for 10 months but if there is one thing I have learnt being here, change happens quick. For good or for bad.

Hi Lyndee,

I am in the same boat as you only I am on 8mg of medrol and my GP wants me off of it. My last BP reading was 150/95, I have never had BP that high I have always had low BP.

I am doing it this way:

1st week--alternate 8mg, 6mg

2nd week--alternate 6mg, 4mg

3rd week--alternate 4mg, 2mg

4th week--alternate 2mg, 1mg

5th week alternate 1mg, 0.5 mg

6th week--0.5mg, 0

This way I hope to be off of medrol in 6 weeks. You could do 2.5, 2, then 2, 1.5, then 1.5, 1, then 1, 0.5, then 0.5, 0. This way you could be finished with your taper in 5 weeks.

I was also on 200mg of chloroquine (we do not have hydroxychloroquine here) and I stopped taking it about 2 months ago. I am definately noticing the difference. 200mg was a good dose for me, it took me a couple of months to get used to this dose but after this you should be ok.

I hope this makes sense. Good Luck and don´t be scared, you can do it!

Maria

Hi Lyndee,

For the final taper off, my rd had me take 5 mgs every other day for two weeks, then off. I was like you and didn't want to do it because I was finally feeling good. I did what she asked and I was fine. During this last flare we added a biologic and I just wasn't sure if it was working, but I happily found out it is working. Good luck to you. I was wondering if the doctor told you he was cutting your plaquinel back? Or did you just find out when you got your prescription? That happened to me once when the prescription was written it was wrong. When I called to check, sure enough, they admitted to the mistake and rewrote the right dosage. I would check back to see if there wasn't a mistake when they wrote the prescription? It does happen occassionally. Good luck to you...HG

Wow...thanks again for the heads up re getting off Pred, and I have taken all the advice onboard. Honestly, in spite of my yaaaaaahs in my first post, I LOVE the stuff.

I know that within 24 hrs of my first dose it had me getting out of bed to the bathroom just about as quick as I did pre RA. And apart from a 5 kg weight gain, I have had no probs at all. So I guess there is a teensy weensy reluctance to give it up! lolololol

Hiking_gal.....I called my regular Docs surgery to ask why I was given a lower dose of Plaq and was informed a letter from the Rheumy came through stating he wanted it reduced next time I was collecting a script. Damned shame he didnt let me know either! Normally he sends a copy to me, of all correspondence to my GP. ( General Practitioner...= reg Doc)

I get my prescriptions via GP as they cost much less than from the Specialist Docs.

I also think I will try your day on/day off scenario.

Yes I will!