Getting off of the Prednisone | Arthritis Information

Hi all, When you try to reduce the pred. do you go down 1/2 a day until you stiffen up? I'm trying from 1-1/2 down to 1, but am having stiff fingers and wrists? How do you 'go down' without experiencing discomfort? I'm taking 1/2 at a time, like 2am 1/2,then 6am 1/2, and now am still stiff. Should I take more? Or tough it out? (yesterday I took one in the morning then was stiff at 3 pm, took 1/2, but it gave me sweats during the night, or is the RA breaking through?)

This is so complex. (My doc said get off of it in another month, so I don't have to hurry, but I want to go down sometime.

Sarah

Sarah, what is the total daily dose you take? If your doctor said to taper off Pred. then he should be giving you directions. Call your RD and get directions for tapering. There are many ways to taper off the drug and it's really an individual thing. It depends on how you respond.

Dear LinB, that's a good idea. The nurse said, you could drop one every three days (not for me!), i'm taking 2 and trying for less in a month, but everytime I go down even 1/2 I get stiff, is this normal?

taken a strange timing today, 1/2 at 2 am, 1/2 at 6, and jsut took 1/4th a minute ago!! it's a bear....

sarah

Sarah, tell me how many mgs. you're on each day. When you say "taking 2 and trying for less" it could mean you're taking 2 - 5mg. tablets or if could mean that you're taking 2 - 10mg tablets. Also, don't understand why you're breaking it down in those hour increments. The reason is if you have 10gm tablets and you're cutting it in half then you're only taking 5mg. a day and that kind of tapering is too fast and that's the reason for the increase in symptoms. Have to know the mg. of the tablets you're taking? If you taper too quickly you'll flare. Ideally you should be tapering at 1/4mg to 1/2mg less for a week at a time. It takes a long time to taper, you can't do it overnight. Your body hates you for it. I was questioning your timing as well.

Please be patient. Pred is an evil little pill. You gotta be careful. I hate pred. How many people have not been able to get off it at all? I am so happy to be donw to 2.5 mg. per day but I still have pain and stiffness. I figure the risk is worth it as the long-term effects are bad. I have been stuck at 3 mg. for 12 months!

Hi all , thanks for the replies, each of these dang pills have 5mgs, of prednisone in them. My doctor said try to 'get off' in a month. so, I'm taking 1-1/4th pill today, that would work out to be reducing by 1/4th per week??How does that sound?

Oh, I take 6 x 2.5 mgs, of mtx sunday, so I hope tht will help, and 10 remicade on May 14th......a cocktail of strong meds!!sarah

[QUOTE=hurts]

This is so complex. (My doc said get off of it in another month, so I don't have to hurry, but I want to go down sometime.

Sarah

[/QUOTE] Hi Sarah, all Dr.'s say things differant but I think he is going too fast. The stiffness may always stay but Flair up's are when the diease ia active. If you are having boughts of serious pain that affects your every day life and suffer from tiredness then do not stop the prednisone.

I was active and became ill at 40 with R.A. started on Predinisone 5mg and Plaquenil for 2 years. I started into remission no more boughts of flairs with pain switching from right side and then back over to the left side of the body. I also started on 1000mg of Glossafamine Sulfate and 1000mg of Vit E. and 1000mg of Folic Acid and started walking. I was able to quit all meds for 6 years and have recently gone back into flair ups again and now have started back on the prednisone, Plaquenil and now have added Methatrexate to the mix. Still have the vitamins and supplements daily. I think that when I developed an infection this last year in my throat then had food poisioning from the Peanut Butter all hell broke loose. I am trying to go slow and hope to get things back under control again like before.

So ask your self is this just stiffness? Or are you having such problems that it effects your daily life? Do you have such pain when it attcks certain body area's that you can not walk on a foot or use your hand to pick up a penny? If so stay on the preds untill you are stable for 6 months. then start cutting down but slow.

I USE 3- 5MG TABLETS A DAY FOR 3 DAYS FOR FLAIRS THEN GO TO 2 TABS FOR 2 DAYS AND THEN BACK TO 1 A DAY ON MAINTANCE.

When I got where I had no flairs for 6 months straight I did this, I started cutting my tabs 5mg 1/2. Took 1/2 tab for 2 weeks then went to 1mg. tab. took 2 mg's daily for 1 more week then . Then 1 mg per day for a week then 1 tab every other day for a week then quit. This is a good way to taper off, as long as you do not have a flair up during a tapper then your body is ready to get off from it.

Hope this helps you ,

Our bodies just don't like to taper because we don't produce enough corticosteroids on our own. So when we get on the pred our bodies really like it and then don't like us that much when we take that pred away. Tapering is so different for everyone. Like I just started today another taper and do 25mgs for 3 days (my preds are 5mg)...then 20mgs for 3 days....then 15mg for 3 days..then 10mg for 3 days...then 7.5mg for 3 days...then my maintenance dose of 5mg. Sarah, I've been working on tapering for more than a year, now. My body fights me every step of the way. I go down by .5 mg. at a time and wait until the pain and swelling go away before I try the next .5. Sometimes I can do it in two weeks. Sometimes, it's 2 months. The goal is a steady decrease at a rate your body can tolerate.

I'm at 3 now (from 20). I'd hoped to be down to 2 by now, but am in a flare again. I think your doctor is pushing your body unreasonably fast. Doctors have no idea how we will react to tapering, as everyone is different. Too fast and you'll really screw up your system. Also, going down too fast, triggering major flares that require that you increase the dosage again, is probably not a good idea.

Prednisone IS an evil little pill, but sometimes, it's a necessary evil little pill.
Hi, I'm trying for 1 -5mgs. Took 6 (2.5) metho yesterday so I'm hoping that will help me continue to decrease. I'll stay on 1 until next week. Just hoping!! sarahHi, I am too trying to get off the predisone. I was on 30mg a day now I am on 20mg I tryed to get to 15mg and just don't work. I have to get off it as soon as possible. My finger tips stay numb and my toes go numb . I have problems with breathing to. Now I am having problems with both my eyes this whole thing is scaring me. I told my rhemy about it and he seems like it don't matter to him or he thinks I am crazy. When I tell him of all the things that hurt me or what is going on in my body but who knows more than yourself how you feel. right. I am surose to start on embrel but I have to wait until I have a tb skin test and I should go to doctor for a check up because I am very prone to sisnus infections. I had two surgery's already on my sisus so i got to make sure everything is good before I start. I have the shots here. For 4 shots was 1,600.00. Isn't that terrible I was shocked when I picked it up. So I figure about 2 weeks it should take place I hope. Do you think embrel 50mg is good and will it help. See on my post and you will know what I am taking now. Thanks for listening. Joan Enbrel is a really good RA med. Please remember that it does have to build up in your system a bit and it may take a couple of shots to start feeling better. I really hope it works well for you.

If your rheumy is not listening to you regarding what your symptoms are with pred, call your pcp doc and let them know what is going on and also let them know you feel your rheumy is not taking this seriously and you want to know what is going on.

We all dread coming off of the pred. I know I am hating to taper down to 5mg. I get to the 10mg point and it seems like all heck breaks loose and that I will never get off of the stuff. URG!!

Hi, After reading all the posts about tapering off pred. it REALLY scares me for my sister. For almost a year now she has been on such high doses we thought 40mgs a day was good!She was on 75mg a day for almost six mos. At no time in the past year has she been on less than 7mgs a day, for short periods, but averages 40mgs a day now. She is on 60mgs while in the hospital with pluersy, having breathing treatments every six hrs, and can't have her regularly scheduled Remicade this week. She just can't breathe and her pain is awful. The pred seems to be destroying her but she can't breathe without it. She also takes about 19 other meds a day and is still so sick. It is heartbreaking. I don't think she will ever be able to go off pred. Has anyone else had this high of a dosage for this long?

Hurts,

I have not beeen able to get off prednisone either. I am at 5 mg. now. My dr. said that if they try to get me off it again they will give me 1 mg. tablets and do a very slow taper such as a decrease of 1 mg every two weeks. Pehaps your dr. could try that. I don't do very well on 5 mg and will probably increase soon so I think this is a ways off for me.

Genesis,

I'm sorry about your sister being so ill. It's important to remember that sometimes docs have to hit hard with steroids to get disease under control. I'm sure they are concerned about the pred too but perhaps are more concerned about her health now than about the side effects of the med.

Take care,

Laker

i cut my 5mg pill into 8ths. Easy with a cutter and only went down the one little piece every week or two. I was on it for over a year, it was the only way not to horribly flair.Well, it is this way, I tried 3/4ths of 5mgs or 3.75, and my right fingers were so stiff and swollen I couldn't hardly mvoe them, so took the WHOLE pill this morning, and it was better. At least I can type!, Will try getting 1 mg pills, and go up and down with one at a time!, Oh dear, ya never know.SarahI'm back up to 5mg. for the rest of this month! Doctor's orders and he wouldn't give me the 1 mgs. Why not? SarahIs there anyone on this board that is NOT on prednisone?

im not on prednisone...in my own little made up world at least LOL