Better stick with that guy.....one that maybe understands how
this works.....not many of them do. The advice from the
docs are all over the place.....that's why this forum is such
a help to all of us.....
I am not sure if it will work for you, but what worked for me is splitting the dose in 2 - late night and early morning. I was at 15mg level, then I reduced to 12.5 with no problem and withing a week rheumatoligists wanted me to go to 10. So afer about 10 days beiing at 12.5, I went to 10 but at the same time I split my dose in morning/evening. I took 5mg very late (1-1:30AM ) and another dose of 5mg about 8AM. Transition from 12.5 to 10 was gradual usingDSNS menthod ( short version that starts with 1new-3old; 1new 2old, etc). I had no problem at all.
Cheers Nick. I already split my dose am and pm when I got to 15 mg and I tend to go 1 new, 5 old,1 new, 4 old etc.
I've been staining the wood on a couple of stables over the last three days so I'm pretty sure that it could be the main reason for the stiffness this morning but will monitor it. One tends to be very body aware these days.
Ron.
Hi Ron. I try to be very careful during the transition time, to distinguish between steroid induced symptoms and the rest of the stuff ( like home projects or new exercise ). Try to keep it steady at least during the first half of the transition, which for me was always more difficult.
Oh No! What is the matter with these so-called experts!
12.5 down to 10mg, lots of people can do it no bother, I couldn't! It is more than the recommended 10% reduction, so it's always possible that you will feel ill. The bloods are irrelevant because over 20% of people never have raised markers!
makes me mad! Did you have a 70% plus improvement when you started steroids? If you did, you have PMR!
Please don't let them rush you off steroids, you are going to feel sooo bad and will be in such pain!
He is wrong!!
Sounds great advice to me!
never forget this is YOUR body your symptoms are King! You and your Rheumie have to be guided by them.
Why would you take 5mg for 5 days and then stop? It goes against all advice I've heard.
I keep a diary which I find to be a great tool for me. I jot down my dose and the time I took it, anything that can affect me, long drive, DIY, gardening etc.i also write downing aches or pains that I have. This is all done in very few words, only takes a couple of minutes.
Reading back over it shows me what patterns there are between exercise,
tapering, diet and general life problems. What it shows me is that I start to reduce only when I feel well, good practice. Unfortunately, because I feel well, I do the jobs that I can't manage on the off days. It just means that I'm learning to pace myself and have plenty of breaks rather than my normal bull in a china shop approach.
I also keep a log of time and dose and any anusual symptoms. I have separate detailed log of my activities, so I can go back and do analysis, if needed. In the begining I kept the records for rheumatologists to help me explain things better. I also bring list of questions with me, so I dont miss somehting. On the other hand, he prints the test results, marks any items he wants to talk about and at the end gives me a copy to take home. All this makes my appointments more productive.
My GP prescribed it as I had breathing problems with my bronchiectasis. He said that, even after three days of 25mg (which he sometimes puts me on) they don't believe it necessary to reduce.
That is correct, you can just stop taking pred if you have only been taking it for a week or two. I assume you do not have PMR if you only took pred for such a short time.
No, I'm sorry I thought this was a site dedicated to prednisilone withdrawal. That's how I got onto it. I feel a bit of a fraud. I have lung disease and take pred when I have trouble breathing (through a virus or something). So, sometimes, short doses are all I need.
In a way it is a site dedicated to pred withdrawal - but for PMR sufferers who have all been on pred for long enough that the adrenal glands have gone on holiday!