I started lowering my prednisolone before xmas. I managed to get down to 12.5mg before xmas but had to stop there for a while. Since xmas I have slowly been working my way towards 10mg - For 10 days I did 2 days at 12.5mg and 1 at 10, then I did 1 day at 12.5 and 1 day at 10 for another 10 days and now I'm doing 2 days at 10 and 1 at 12.5 until i see my GP next Thursday. The thing is I currently really really hurt. Is this a normal reaction to reducing the dose of pred.?
Thanks,
Laura
when my dr has me taper down on the prednisone he says to go down 1mg every week or so, maybe you could call your dr and see what he suggest. Goodluck! Hope you are feeling betterI went down very, very slowly - about .5 mg. a week or two. I got as low as 4.5 & had a major flare. It can be really, really hard to do.How long have you been on it? What other medications are you currently on as well?
I'm just curious to that information. I've never been on long term high dose predisone. I've used it on many occations over the years but I was quickly tapered off. Not always possible for everyone.
Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks for your responses.
Lovie, I'm also taking Arcoxia and, at the moment, co-codamol. Until last week I was also taking methotrexate but had to come off that due to bad reaction. I was originally on 20mg of pred back in October.
I'm asking because I hate ringing my doctor. He is a lovely man but I feel like I speak to him far too often!!
Sounds like everyones given you some good advise here. Come off a little slower.
Do you think now that you've had to stop the MTX things have gotten a lot worse? How long were you on MTX? How long have you been off now?
I too take MTX and have now missed 3 doses of Humira. I think every week that passes I miss it a little more....but luckily it hasn't been as bad as I'd feared. I think had it been the other way around and I had to go off MTX instead of Humira it would have been worse since I feel like it's been doing the majority of the heavy lifting all along.
I understand not wanting to call your doctor just yet. Wait and see what other's think in regards to this issue. We have so many here with tons of predisone experience. Hopefully between everyone you'll find some good answers.
I've only been off the MTX a week! I'm not sure if things have got worse since then or the drop down to 2 days at 10mg of pred has made me aware of just how much the pred was covering. I was on MTX for 3 months, so barely enough time to feel a lot of benefit.
All the advice you're all giving is great - I will ask the doctor at my appt next week for some 1mg pills to make the drop less steep. I'm so glad I found this site and that you are all so supportive and willing to share your experiences.
I'm sure you're probable feeling the predisone drop.
We're glad you're here. These forums have helped me far more than my doctors ever have. Course you guys can't prescribe the medications I need....but I've learned more from my friends here with years of experience than I every have from my doctors who rarely have 15 minutes to spend with me.
I had to go even slower lowering my prednisone while giving the other meds time to take over....took a full 2 years to get off. Don't push it especially if you aren't on a dmard or biologic right now. Call the doc that is what he is there for. The first year is the hardest and the docs know that.
ginger
It sounds like you are going at a sane pace, but slow down a bit. Especially if you can see increased swelling or if your morning stiffness just won't go away.Just hang at 12.5
How long before you see your doc again? If it is longer than 1 month, do call.
I am not familiar with Arcoxia.
I see my doctor again a week today - hence my reluctance to call him!
Arcoxia is a cox 2 inhibator, its chemical name is etoricoxib. It was the first NSAID we tried and it seems to help. I've had no problems with it.
Thanks