Prednisone withdrawal

slowly withdraw over a few weeks. my doc told me that pred is dangerous and would only prescribe it twice a year. it really helped. there are many bio drugs to look into .

see another rhumy.

Well prdnsnhtr, you might find this interesting and perhaps (hopefuly) helpful... my dog suffered from an immune system disorder caused by TOO MANY VACCINATIONS. The term is called vaccinosis - though most doctors and vets won't ever mention that term. I had to find out about it online at a holistic veterinarian website. The disorder my dog had was one that people get too, called "immune-mediated thrombocytopenia", which caused my dog to almost bleed to death from too few platelets. I went to a high ranking vet (at a veterinary college) and they prescribed... prednisone... the ever-popular quick fix for immune system disorders. Did it work? Well in about 2 days, the dog stopped bleeding when she pooped (which was the issue that caused me to bring her to the vet) but her platelet level never went completely back up to normal, and I had her blood checked every week for 8 weeks. Since I don't trust the medical system (animal or human) any further than I can spit, I immediately got online and located immune boosting supplements for dogs and started my dog on that, about a week after she first started the bleeding. After 8 weeks on Prednisone, my dog almost died. She had been eating fine for those first 8 weeks and drinking water like a camel, but then the next day, she laid down in my back yard and wouldn't touch any food or water, and looked like she was going to die. She didn't move from that one spot in the yard all day. Now the vet had recommended I get the dog off of the prednisone and onto a chemo pill but never made it clear why they kept pushing me to do that. However, at that 8 week mark, I understood why. I had already started weaning my dog off of prednisone and onto the chemo pill but that day she laid down to die, I decided to stop the prednisone and the chemo pill and just keep her on the immune boosting supplements, not knowing if she would even live to see another day. In fact, I was so convinced she was going to die, that I dug a hole in my yard to bury her. The very next day after stopping the prednisone my dog got noticeable stronger, day by day. Then, to save money on the dog-specific immune supplements, I started giving the dog my own immune boosting supplements every day - one small scoop of green super food powder and one small scoop of brewer's yeast powder. Conclusion of story: while the vets estimate that a dog with her condition can AT MOST live another 6 months WITH THEIR TREATMENTS, my dog lived another 3 and a half years, to the relatively ripe old age of 15 which is pretty good for a large (80 pound) dog. I have since learned that the green super-food powder (all of the brands/mixes are pretty helpful), is a very highly recommended immune system booster. Also, red grapefruit is supposed to be an extremely powerful immune boosting food. In fact, grapefruit is so HELPFUL for the immune system, that it was the one and only food on earth that my wife was not allowed to eat - because she was on immune-suppressing meds for her kidney transplant!

I was on prednisolone nearly 3 years for an auto immune condition. I started at 60mg and eventually got down to 10mg. When I started tapering from 10mg, I went very very slowly - much slower than the consultant suggested. This was the method: 2 weeks alternating between 10 and 9, then a month on 9, then 2 weeks alternating 9/8, then a month on 8, 2 weeks alternating 8/7, then down to 7 etc. It was slow but sure. No flares in my condition, no adrenal problems.

I had my tablets issued in 1mg instead of 5mg to make it do-able. Good luck!