Query re tapering down from initial larg dose of prednisolone.
Posted , 8 users are following.
I'm looking at people's posts re tapering down from 10 or 15 mg by 1 or even 0.5mg at a time.
How have people reduced down from larger daily doses please?
My husband does not have a great deal of patience and I can't imagine him calmly reducing from 40mg by 1mg at a time in stages.
0 likes, 5 replies
Daniel1143 jones10939
Posted
We like to think we are in control…you know masters of our universe. PMR teaches us a painful reality. If your husband tries to force it and drive his way to zero as if a car to a destination, he will, as the analogy goes, run out of gas rather quickly.
EileenH jones10939
Posted
No - from 40mg down to 20mg then he should manage fairly well with 2.5mg at a time, maybe even 5mg to 35 and 30. But as Daniel says, his body may rebel - if the step down is too big then you may experience one of two things: steroid withdrawal rheumatism or a flare of the symptoms because the dose is now too low to manage the inflammation.
If he has "just" PMR then 40mg is a high dose (it isn't if it is GCA that he has, then it is the bottom of the required range) and he should be able to drop 5mg at a time and could even try going from 40 to 30 at one go if he hasn't been on the 40mg too long (more than a couple of weeks for example). It is very individual - he will have to try and see how he gets on. You don't really need to go to 1mg until you get to 10mg - unless you have problems with the size steps you try. It is a bit of experiementation - but we can assure you that once he gets below 20mg it will pay hime to tread carefully! It isn't slow when it works - when it doesn't work because you are pushing to go too fast or too far, all that happens is that you flare, you have to go back to a higher dose and start again and sometimes you have to go to a higher dose than first time around.
jones10939 EileenH
Posted
He's been on 40mg for two weeks and waiting for rheumatologist to comment re temporal biopsy taken a just over a week ago, with just under 2 weeks of 40mg left we're hoping reduction can start soon.
Thanks for the info Eileen.
jones10939
Posted
Michdonn jones10939
Posted