Pneumonia vaccine?

I was diagnosed in 2015 the first time. 

I would stay at least 3 weeks on each of your doses now. Reducing by .5 mg at a time is a good idea. I wasn’t told to do that the 1st prednisone round, then when I had to go back on it, I did reduce by .5 when I got to the lower mg. 

I also wasn’t told by Rheumatologist to reduce by .5. I got this information from reading all the online experiences of people. I think it makes a lot of sense - I was on prednisone the 2nd time for a year. Based on experiences I read here I had what seems to be a mild version of PMR. 

I think at this level you should consider staying at each taper for four weeks, or switch to the "dead slow nearly stop taper method.  I used this and would drop a second .5 mg halfway through the taper until I got to about 5 mg when I dropped .5 mg each month, eventually six weeks at really small doses.

Pneumonia vaccine should be okay.  It will protect you from the much more dangerous possibility of catching pneumonia!

I, too, believe I should not eat liquorice but I thought it had something to do with stroke and family history, not PMR/pred.  Maybe our chances of stroke or other cardiovascular accident are higher and liquorice not a good idea in that case?

Liquorice isn't a good mix with pred - it can make pred side effects worse because it stops the body excreting it. I suppose you could regard it as a potential seroid sparer????

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/steroid-tablets/

I would think twice about the pneumonia vaccine - but I have never had it suggested! 

This 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4481118/

suggests there aren't problems as such but the response to the vaccine may be poor. By a dose of 8mg it shouldn't be too much of a waste though.

At this stage slower is better - your adrenal glands have to stage a graduated return to work from here on and going slowly makes that easier.

Hi, yes I believe licorice affects how well Prednisolone works. Thank goodness I can still eat chocolate! My doctor felt I should wait until I was off Pred before getting the pneumonia vaccination. I have asthma but he felt I was fairly low risk for bronchial problems. As always it’s a balancing act and depends on how vulnerable you are to chest infections versus the risk to your immune system if you add another element for it to deal with, plus the question of whether the vaccine is as efficient while you’re on Pred. Do let us know how it works for you if you go ahead. 

Thanks to Eileen's post I (belatedly, after the horse has escaped) looked up interaction between pred and the pneumonia vaccine (the internet came up with the one with 23 strains) and it is contraindicated.  However the immunization schedule for my jurisdiction does not list prednisone as a contraindication.  

Our doctor even told my husband when he received the "other" pneumonia shot that she could justify giving it to me also (it is not provided routinely) as I was on pred.  I haven't taken her up on it.  I do not have the same rather dire history of lung infections hubby has.  

The advice not to eat liquorice is on the patient information leaflet by Alliance Pharrmaceuticals, available via medicines.org.uk.

I remember reading sometime ago that liquorice can raise blood pressure - or maybe it was on the radio.