Hi everyone,
Just wanted tell you that im finally weaning off of prednisone. Im down to 2- 1 mg tablets. It has been a long journey getting down this far and actually staying there. My question is has anyone felt the effects of weaning down? Like waking up very very stiff in the morning? Alot of pain during the day? Does it every go away? Will my body soon adjust? Im trying my hardest NOT to go back up on the medicine. How soon should I just not take anymore? How do you feel not being on it for awhile? Ive been on this dose for about 3 months now. Sorry for all the questions, Im just so happy to finally almost be off of this med after taking it daily for 3 years.
Thanks!
Momof3
Im currently on 100mgs of Enbrel once a week
Vicoden and Daypro
I was weaning off of 10 mg. just beautifully until I got below 3 mg. I was going down 1 mg. a week and at 1 mg. I thought..I am not going to be able to get out of bed! My Doctor had me go back to 3 mg and I have been stuck there for a number of months. No matter how awful I feel, I have not gone up. I just started MTX about 1 month ago and hopefully that will kick in some time soon and I can get off this stuff!!
Congrats on getting down to 2 mg!! yes, I am still very stiff and in pain all day. However, if I can get to work and function, I just tough it out.
I just got off Pred after being on for over three years! It is very hard to wean yourself but I did it very slowly and am doing well!Man, I was only on Pred for a couple weeks (to help determine if I had RA or PA - I have PA). He said he wouldn't keep me on it cuz I'd gain a lot of weight and be really unhappy. He's probably right, so I'm glad we didn't go further with that. He said if I ever have an event or vacation or something where I want to feel great, he'll give it to me again, but not ongoing.The key is slow, slow, SLOW...
I'm down to 2 mgs. daily, too. I tried to lower it from there a couple months ago, but the weather got all funky as the season began to change, and my knee started acting up somewhere in there, and things got crazy at work...anyway, I've gone back to the 2 mgs.
I get my knee injected tomorrow, and I'm off work until after the holidays, so I'm thinking next week wil be a good time to try lowering my daily prednisone intake again.
I'm gonna go very slow and gradual, cutting it by just .5 mgs for a while. Maybe even go with that every other day at first, for like two weeks, then even out to 1.5 mgs. daily for at least a month, then lower another .5 mgs every other day again, and so on.
Lowering the dose by half-miligrams has seem to do the trick for me; it's how I got down to these last 2 miligrams when larger decreases didn't work. I figure that if that's what works, then I keep with that approach. Also, since it's down to the last miligrams, I'll take longer between dose changes to give my body time to adjust.
I have a feeling that, as I ween off this lowest level dose, I need to be more gradual in the process to be succesful and completely free of the drug.
Thanks for your post-update...
I too am currently on 10mg of Pred (on my 8th day now) and am on it for RA diagnostic purposes. My doc said if the Pred helps the symptoms then it concludes I have Sero Neg RA. It took a few days, but the last three mornings I've woken up pain and stiff free. Wow that was nice. I call the doc next week to let him know how its worked and he'll then refer me to a RH doc. Those of you who have Rheumatologist docs, what are the first few appts like? Do they take x-rays, encourage treatment right away, do more bloodwork, or does it all just depend on the patient???
Thanks for your help
My first visit included a x-rays, blood work, lots of explanation and talk, bodily exam, and I went home with a script for mtx. She doesn't normally do that, but she was certain I had RA from the get-go so she started me on it right away. My next appointment was a month later where we discussed results of tests.