Is it really this hard to wean off predisone? Last Monday my dr lowered my predisone (trying to wean me off) and upped my MTX from 4 tabs to 6 tabs. I have migraine headaches almost every day, nausea, occasional vomiting, not to mention my joint pain is back a little, and I feel just overall very crappy. I just want to get back to my life. Anyone have an idea how long this will last?
I hope you get some responses. I keep trying to wean off but the result is severe flares. Best wishes to you.Hi shell, I was on pred from February until now. Started at 30mg, after a week 25mg and so on. I am off it now, but pain and swelling all returned. I am on 20mg methotrexate, 200mg hydroxychloroquine (plaquenil) and 500mg sulfasalezine. This combination is not working, and have my next appt on 16 July. I work full time caring for children, I also have fibromyalgia, and am constantly in pain. Biologi cs here in UK are only given when at least 3 DMARDs have failed. Even then it has to go to the primary care trust to decide if you qualify. This can take up to or even more than 4-6 months. I think you have to go slowly, and accept your body will not like to have no pred!!! good luckI've been weaned off prednisone many times in thirty years with RA. Each time is harder. Docs tend to want to do it quicker. My best experiences were with a very gradual withdrawal, using a combination of 5 and 1 milligram tabs, and ending with every other day medication.
Hi Shell:
as dsquared mentioned, might be best to go slower off prednisone. Everyone reacts differently with different meds. I got VERY sick from tapering too quickly off a different medicaiton, and am still very , very slowly now tapering off of it. Is the MTX increase possibly making you more sick?
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