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Reduction help!

Posted , 11 users are following.

jane03457
jane03457

Hello Eileen,

can I please ask for your valued help...

I have had PMR for 10 years & over the past 12 months have managed to reduce slowly from 6 to 4mg Pred & feeling well on that so I attempted your slow reduction method attempting to get to 3!

After the second week it has flared up again, not agony but uncomfortable. I am sticking at 4mg & hoping the pain will pass...is this the right course of action? Do you think I will ever get down further??

I really appreciate your knowledge & help,

Jane

1 like, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • ptolemy
    ptolemy jane03457

    Posted

    Dear Jane, I am sure you will get down further when you feel comfortable at your current dose, are you using the very slow method to reduce?
    • jane03457
      jane03457 ptolemy

      Posted

      Hello, thanks for your encouragement. Yes I have been doing the slow reduction method.

      I hope that I will be able to reduce more in the future but feel rather disheartened by this as I naively hoped it may have gone away...one day  I hope!

      Jane 

    • ptolemy
      ptolemy jane03457

      Posted

      Hi Jane, PMR is life changing. On the plus side it has slowed me down and given me time to smell the roses, instead of rushing round like a mad thing. 
    • Anhaga
      Anhaga ptolemy

      Posted

      True 'nuff.  But it certainly isn't how I'd planned to spend my retirement years.... 

  • EileenH
    EileenH jane03457

    Posted

    If the 4mg is now holding the pain that's good - if it isn't try a few days of a higher dose (say 7.5 or even 10mg) and then go back to 4mg. You shouldn't need to reduce slowly after just a few days.

    I suspect that if you have had PMR for 10 years the chances of getting off pred altogether are small - although I do know of a couple of people who did get off pred at 11 years or so! But be comforted that it is a very low dose, far less than your body makes as natural corticosteroid in the form of cortisol. That means it counts before your body tops it up to what it needs - and so there isn't an excess which is what causes the side effects. 

    I've given up hoping after 14 years of PMR. 8+ of pred. I was down to below 5mg but had problems (probably adrenal function related) and then a flare so was back to 15mg! Boo!!! But now I am back to 7mg - tried 5mg again, wasn't a good idea!! I'm not worried about 7mg - I don't think I shall have too much trouble with my new rheumy either - to me 7mg and below of pred is better than pred plus something else. I have no side effects except maybe slightly high cholesterol - but my HDL is very high too - and I feel good and can do most things I want. What more could I wish?

    • jane03457
      jane03457 EileenH

      Posted

      Thanks so much for your valued help Eileen & much reassurance, we will keep on trying!

      jane

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