Hi all I've been on 6mg pred for a month now and seemed to be doing ok until yesterday , whilst out for my normal walk my hips were very sore I was following what Eileen suggests and having plenty of rests , to be honest I didn't have a lot of choice I was too uncomfortable to do anything else, I aso noticed pain in my shoulders and finger which were there at start of my pmr journey, I am due to drop to 5mg from today but decided to stick at old dose for now any suggestions when I should try and reduce, I don't want to rush it and have a flare but do get muddled about what discomfort I should expect to put up with if any .
Thanks every one one best wishes to you all
Molly
Molly, you say that you felt uncomfortable yesterday half way through your walk, well how do you feel this morning? Regards, tina
Hi molly. Dropping from 6mg to 5mg is rather a big drop when you are below 10mg. I would seriously consider staying on 6mg for another month and even upping your dose if pain continues, then drop by 0.5mg. Good luck in your quest to get off preds.
Hi Tina I still feel quite uncomfortable today , I don't think I could manage to walk very far at all , I thought it was wise to stay on 6mg whilst I felt like this
molly
Hi tavidu , I didn't realise it was quite a big drop I think I might follow your advice , I had been considering dropping to 5& a 1/2 but think I shall wait a while and like you say up the dose if this discomfort continues
Hi Molly,might just be your return to walking after resting .If it was me Iwould stay put for a couple of days to see if it settles if not up my dose incrementally...reverse of your taper until you feel more comfortable
A friend who had PMR a while back with no problems, said at that level only drop half a mg a month max and I should be fine. That is, if you have no problems at the current dose.
I do my tapering veeeeery slowly since I got my lesson.
Had a flare recently, had to go back little by little to a higher dose of Pred until I could get that point of feeling comfortable and my vision ok. I have GCA.
Hope you find your own way to do the tapering - the most complicated part of our treatment generally speaking .
Take care
🌸
Hello Molly. as others have said once down to 10mg I reduced by 1/2 mg very slowly with few problems.just a thought it might be wise to go back up a couple of mg untill comfortuble and stay there for a short period. best wishes. Dave
Hi Molly - I would stay there for a couple of more days and see how you feel, you many have just pushed it a little too far on you 'normal' walk.
The golden rule is no more than 10% reduction - at 10 mg this would be 1 mg, at 5 mg it's half a mg! How long are you taking to reduce from old to new dose - hopefully using the DSNS method over a few weeks?
Hi Oregonjohn rheumatologist has me going down 1mg a month but is fine with me adjusting if I have a flare, I have been ok on 6 till yesterday I still feel very tired and haven't been able to walk far for a while but I haven't experienced the pains in my hips like this before , I think your right when I reduce I will do it by 1/2 a mg a time
thanks molly
your right iellen we are all different in our needs regards tapering different things work for different people
hope your well take care molly
hi Ptolemy I had been fine on current dose tho I admit I hadn't been for my usual walk for a week or 2 then when I did yesterday my hips were very painful and I had to keep resting , it looks like reducing by 1/2 a mg is the way to go
thanks molly
Hello Molly, I agree with all that everyone else has said. Firstly, anybody who hasn't exercised for a while would experience a little discomfort when exercise is resumed, so for us, we not only experience the discomfort but our muscles probably are not as well tuned as they should be anyway and it does take us longer for them to get back to normal. So when you feel that your muscles are repairing themselves, do take up your walking again because that is so good for us, but don't walk as far or as fast.
i have just begun my reduction from 6mgs but I only ever reduce by .5mgs so currently I'm 6-5.5mgs. I had trouble reducing by the 1mgs, had a flare, but have had no problems only reducing by .5mg and now that I'm on the lower doses I always stay on my new dose for 6 weeks before I begin the next slow reduction. Yes, it's slower but it gives my body longer to get use the new dose and for my adrenals to get use to the new reduced dose too.
check that over the next few days these pains are not getting worse, if they are then it could be the start of a flare but if you are slowly feeling better then I think this is a reaction to your walk. All the best, tina
When you say that you are reducing by 1 mg per month, are you switching from, say, 7 mg to 6 mg in one go? The slow way would be to switch doses over a much longer time period, e.g. 6 mg for one day, 7 mg for 5 days 6 for one day, 7 for 4 days and so on to let the body get used to the reduction.
All the best
Ron
PS. Meant to say that a .5 mg drop would be preferable though. :-)
I do find when not exercising for a while I do go down hill. My swimming pool had a fire recently so I did not swim for six weeks and it was hard getting back to it. I found I did have slight flare symptoms as I immediately did the same number of lengths as usual instead of going back slowly.
Yes Ron that's the way I've been told to do it but I think I'm going to do it the slow way from now thanks
Thanks Tina I will stay on the 6 to take me over the next few days then try reducing by o.5 from now on . I have been continuing walking for some time since diagnosis but haven't done usual route for about 3 weeks now as have been busy supervising the hubby doing the decorating 😉 , I was very good and didn't do a great deal myself so this pain has kind of took me by surprise .
Best wishes Molly
Hi Molly...I am on 7-1/2m after 2+ years and have learned the hard way about having a flare. Sounds like you are doing well...I would risk a flare.
being pain free for a while makes you think you are in control with the prednisone!...be mistake. Took 10 weeks to recover from my last flare.
Good luck!