I had a Flare

Bones, joints and muscles
1

hello. i started on 15 mg of pred at year last October and last Tues i went from 6 mg a day to 5 mg i was absolutely fine until Friday when my neck started to ache by Monday it was really painful so after speaking to my doctor he told me to go back to 10 mg a day for two days and then start taking 6 mg a day until my next blood test which is the middle of march so today i have started taking the 6 mg but my neck is still a little l painful, . not really sure if i should stay on the 10 for a bit longer. i normally go down 1mg every 6 weeks. many thanks Jenny

2

hi Jenny, i found that once down to around 6mg i had to reduce by .5 increments so not to have a flare. its a slow process but fingers crossed it is working for me. I’m now nibbling at .5 mg to slowly get off. so far so good! at this rate i might be off by SPRING!!!good luck!

3

if you are not feeling better and still have symptoms, then most likely you did not clear all accumulated inflammation. You can stay on higher dose (10mg) few more days as long as it is shorter then a week and still go directly back to 6mg, your previous good dose. As Freda pointed out, you might have better luck if you go in 0.5mg steps. Rule of thumb is that reduction should not be more then 10% of the old dose, so in your case 0.5mg should work better.

4

I’d have stuck with the 10mg a bit longer - maybe 4 or 5 days (you can still go back) OR until the pain is gone. Sounds like 6mg is your dose for now - but that’s good.

5

HI Eileen . Thank you for your reply. I take a split dose so i have taken 3 mg this morning so i could take 7 mg at bedtime do you think that would be okay ? and then take 5 mg tomorrow morning and 5 mg at bedtime . and would i be able to go back to 6 mg from the 10 mg if i take it for longer then the two days . thank you

6

Hi Freda. Thank you for your reply . you are doing really well to get down to 6 mg i was okay on 6 mg as well it was when my doctor put me down to 5 mg that i had the flare ! i wish you lots of luck

7

Hi Nick. Thanks for your reply . love this group it is always so helpful

8

As Nick says - up to 7-10 days you can still drop back to the previous dose without problems. And yes - the rest sounds ideal to me.

9

Hi Nick. I have now started to take 10 mg a day hopefully the pain will soon go and then i can drop back down to my 6 mg . i think that i have been lucky so far that i have dropped down quite easily without having a flare. thanks for your help

10

HI Eileen. Thanks for all your help, i have now started the 10 mg again . I love this group always so helpful.