taper vs level of pain

That's very true. Predict does take all,the swelling out of my body and I,do feel a lot better, generally done with tapering method. It hard on the liver and I can only do it 3 times a year.

 

I'm having problems too and my rheumatologist is making it very difficult by pressuring me. I can't seem to get to 10 milligrams. Everytime I get to 10 milligrams the pain is more the I can bear. So you're not alone. I'm assuming you've tried the slow method. The method that's described here on this site. I can't give you the link because I don't know how to do that on here but I'm sure that Eileen or someone else who does will be on here soon to do that for you.

Good luck to you.

The slow method mentioned by amkoffee:

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/reducing-pred-dead-slow-and-nearly-stop-method-531439

I've used this successfully since I was at 10 mg, usually dropping .5 mg at a time.  Now at 2 mg. Last few tapers have taken a very long time, but as Eileen says, it isn't slow if it works.

You should be taking enough pred to eliminate at least 70% of pain.  Increased pain for a few days at beginning of taper can be steroid withdrawal, but that sould ease after a few days.  If it doesn't, or increases, or if you find pain developing after a little while on the lower dose, it's more likely to be increase in PMR pain, and you'd need to go back to the dose which last worked well.  

I always had problems tapering until I started taking Tumeric twice daily after meals. I am at 10 mg and will drop to 9 1/2 this week. I have absolutely no pain related to PMR and more energy.

Barbara, many people will surely a pine here. Generally speaking, your objective is to erase most of the pain. It is not to get yourself down as fast as possible. It's unclear how much practice on your presently on But if you were in pain you were clearly too low. Many of us have tried to push it only to realize that the PMR has a life of its own and it tells us when we can reduce and not the other way around

No - you need the amount of pred you need to manage the pain - and going to low just is pointless. The pain and stiffness are the result of inflammation, the pred combats the inflammation. 

However - not all pain is due to the PMR. Some people have myofascial pain syndrome, or piriformis syndrome. Many have unrealistic doctors who try to make them reduce too far or too fast. 

And some people are never totally pain free - especially if they try to do too much. Pacing and lifestyle changes are also needed in PMR - you can't rely entirely on the pred, it does a lot but not everything.

You have the link for the Dead Slow approach - and that helps most people a lot.

What dose are you on at the moment? Also what were you trying to reduce to? Were you going too fast. Whatever you do, if you get pain stop and even increase, trying to live through the pain is a bad thing.