I need some advise please

Posted , 8 users are following.

Some of you might remember that i had a flair after dropping from 4 mg to 3 mg so i went up to 10 mg for a few days and back to 4 mg everything was fine for a while but for the last few days the back of my legs at the top hurt and are stiff after sitting it wears off once i am walking around. Does anyone else have this ? if it is not a flair what could it be ? with pmr my legs was affected and at my worst i could hardly walk. my doctor is expecting me to go down to 3 mg before i see him next month i don't know what to do. I could go for a blood test but the last time i had a flair my blood test was normal. and my doctor will go by my blood test results

0 likes, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • Posted

    Your doctor may be expecting you to be at 3mg - but it sounds very likely you have already arrived at your destination: the lowest dose that gives the same result as the starting dose did. Flares can happen because the disease activity increases as well as because you have overshot the dose.

    Have you been doing anything unusual recently? Or have you got/had a cold or anything like that?

    • Posted

      sorry for the delay in answering your message. when i started this journey i was on 15 mg and all pain and stiffness went. my problem seemed to start when i dropped from 4 mg to 3mg so i went up to 10 mg for a few days and back to 4 mg and i was fine for a few days and now the top of my legs hurt after sitting i am not sure if it could be a flair or something els. I haven't t done anything unusual had a urine infection but apart from that nothing

    • Posted

      How quickly were you reducing before? It can take as much as months for the inflammation to build up enough to cause symptoms. But a UTI is more than enough to upset the immune system and cause a flare. It sounds as if it was really while dropping from 5 to 4 that the border was crossed. It is a flare for some reason - the symptoms went with a few days of more pred. But going back to 4mg seems to have been too much.

  • Posted

    Can you cut your tablets? It could be that 3.5 is what you need. I think a lot of us taper by .5 mg at a time below 10 mg, or at least by 7 or 5 mg . At this level your doctor should not be worried at all about you taking a long time to taper each step.

    • Posted

      Hi yes when i go down from 4 mg i will cut the tablets in half so will take 3 1/2 tablets . not really sure that i should go down yet though

    • Posted

      If you aren't sure - you probably should wait!

    • Posted

      No i think that i will wait awhile before going down i am not in any rush

    • Posted

      You can't cut coated tablets, but plain pred is fine.

  • Posted

    Jennyrose, like Anhaga I also reduce by only half a mg under 10 mg. I saw my Rheumy yesterday and once again she trying to speed up my tapering and once again I smile and continue using the DSNS method and .5mg. You have to listen to your body and taper accordingly. And do it with a smile. 😉

    • Posted

      I do wish some of these doctors had PMR and had to reduce at the pace they suggest to us.

    • Posted

      yes my doctor will expect me to be on 3 mg when i see him because my blood levels are okay . when i go down i will cut the tablet in half, if the tablet was a bit bigger i would cut it into a quarter

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