Where do I find the details? I thought it was up on this site months ago but I can’t find it. Also, my endo says there is always the adaptation to the lower dose and it takes up to a month to see if your body is going to adjust. How do I know whether it is the adaptation or the disease being unmasked? Thanks.
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/reducing-pred-dead-slow-and-nearly-stop-method-531439
You can always find it on the "front page" of the forum
Your endocrinologist must be an angel, accepting that it can take up to a month to get accustomed to a new dose. I believe the difference between steroid withdrawal and re-emergence of PMR pain is that steroid withdrawal happens very quickly, whereas PMR will build up slowly over a few days or even a couple of weeks. I had a flare last year and I can tell you it was very obvious to me what was happening, although fortunately I didn't need to go up very high to mute it again. I'm still at a slightly higher dose than I was last year at this time, but feeling well. I do have some aches and creaks from osteoarthritis, but they are not particularly worrisome; they had vanished at the higher doses of pred! The beauty of DSNS method is it gives you time to get through any steroid withdrawal, and I always have a little even with a tiny reduction of only .5 mg. But a successful taper always ends with me feeling as well as, or better than I did at the beginning of the taper.
I’ve had many a relapse / flare . At around 1.5-2 weeks my symptoms would return. One time early on I had just had a routine blood test and a few hours after I had the test my rheumatologist called and asked me how I was doing. I said terrible. She told me my esr and crp we’re both 40 and I should increase my prednisone. So after that I recognized when the PMR swelling was returning and increasing my dose of prednisone was called for.