Weaning from Prednisone

Hi, I have been on a corticsteroid for over two years. I had to stop it along with my MTX for about a month prior to surgery and wow was I a basket case. After surgery I am on it again, but only 3 mg a day. I may try to go to 1.5, but slowly and maybe do something like 3/1.5/3/1.5 and alternate. My rheumatologist says you have to listen to your body. Plus Tylenol is bad for the liver over long term use, so I try not to take it at all. Hope this helps.

 

I don't think you CAN "move past these symptoms quickly" - you are asking your body to speed up its physiological processes.

I don't know what your dose was - but 5 weeks isn't "slow weaning" - many of the people on my home forum, all of whom are on pred for years often, take more like 5 months to get through the last 7mg. While you are on doses above 7mg, or thereabouts, your body stops producing the body's natural corticosteroid, cortisol. It is essential for various physiological processes in the body and without it you become very ill, may even die, lack of it leads to Addison's disease. The adrenal glands which are responsible for its production take a considerable time to wake up again - it isn't just them, it is the pituitary and hyppothalamus production of various hormones that has to start up in a very complex feedback set-up. The slower you wean, the better your body is able to catch up.

So until  your body DOES catch up - you will experience these feelings. It is usually said it takes up to a year for your body to settle down completely. And I'm sorry, there is no way to speed up the process. When we carry a steroid card it is for these reasons - and you should continue to carry the steroid card for up to a year. Any stress, whether it is trauma, infection, emotional or physical stress makes it more apparent because it is the corticosteroid that helps us cope.

Someone very wise did some researched on the most effective withdrawal and posted this withdraw example on this site several months ago. Sorry i can't find it now but she explains that you need to go very slowly and mix the old dose with the new lower dose. It worked for me it took me 6 months to withdraw from 8mgs Aso give it a search

Hi!  I completely agree with all that the people below have said.  I was on 15 mg prednisone this time last year for RA, and my rheumatologist just said go down 1 mg a week until I can't.  I had several stalls at 7mg.  The very hardest was 7-6 6-5 5-4 4-3, for me - causing pain, but not so much for the last 3.  However I did have to then stop my newly restarted running routine because I was just gobsmackingly exhausted.  Could not summon the will to move, which didn't even happen when I was severely disabled with RA pre meds.  So that was for about 5 weeks, but I slowly came right.  It only took until about 3 weeks after completely stopping to feel tons better.  I can now run nearly as well as before RA and diagnosis a year and a half ago.  It feels truly amazing to be off prednisone!  Prednisone was extra hard for me because I am a type 1 diabetic and had to inject a whole extra type of insulin for my body to deal with it.  

You will have your own pattern but hang in there, I think you should be feeling much better in a few weeks if it works for you like for me.

I was on 25mgs, now down to 4.75mgs, at the moment I'm tapering 1.4 mg weekly.   Hope to be off it soon.   I'm on a pretty hefty dose of pain killers after having my right superior and mid lung lobes removed.so I take advantage of that as it allows me to wean a little quicker.   Of course, there will be a price to pay when I wean of the pain killers as well, but I wouldn't fell right without pain now!

My Rheumatologist wrote a program for me after I got down to 15mgs:   from 15 down to zero in four weeks.   Can't remember the exact numbers each week but the first week was 15 - 10.    I threw it in the bin and laughed all the way home.   Doctors have no clue!