I don't know if any of you remember me... I was the person who asked about methotrexate and sun back in january, for help with my girlfriend on our trip to Florida...Thanks for the help on that, she came back tan, not burnt.
I am trying to help her get off of prednisone. She tried to go down on the prednisone, and has made it to 10 mg daily from 20 mg daily. However, when she went below 10 mg, she had major flare ups. Thus, she is constantly being held at 10 for quite sometime. What I am curious to know is if there is any way to help her go down on the dosage, perhaps any excercises, or anything to help her. She doesn't like being on it, and I can't blame her. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you!!!
NathanNathan you are a nice caring guy and your girlfriend is lucky to have your support. If you read some of the pred posts on here you will see that it is a fairly common problem, trying to get off of pred, unfortunately for some of us it will be for life that we need to take it. I have been on it for 7 years, and some people a lot longer, our bodies make the equivalent of 7.5 mg daily, and when we take pred sometimes our body stops making it naturally and then you have to be on it for life, a safe dose is considered to be around 5 - 7.5mg daily. I don't know of any way to get off of it or I am sure I would have done it and it is a constant battle for me and my Drs to try and get me off of it, but remember the good it does too, it is a wonderful drug for pain and decreasing the inflammation but unfortunately it has some awful side effects. Best of luck, hang in there, Janie.
Hi Nathan,
I had a hard time getting below 10 mg also but I am now on 5. My dr. added a DMARD and naproxen and gradually worked me down to 5 of prednisone. I do have to increase the pred if I have a flare. Is your girlfriend on any other meds for her RA?
Laker
Good for her! to try to get off of it. I'm at 6 right now, down from 15 then 10, now the 6.....my doc said to go down 1 mg. a week. Some people go down 1/2 a mg. a week. You can look in the wikipedia (and read what's been posted herefor )more info on tapering and what happens if you go down too quickly. It is very bad to go off too quickly. Sarah Lynda