I've been on 4 mg pred for the past several months. A couple weeks ago, I started tapering it. The plan was to taper 1mg/ month until I was off. My doc said I could go slower than that, but not faster.

I decided to begin by going to 3.5 mg. I couldn't believe how much more energy I had for the first week. However, Wegs symptoms were creeping in-- nothing major, just noticeable. By the end of the 2nd week I conceded that the symptoms were past my safety level. I went back up to 4 mg last week. That day I was incredibly exhausted and depressed. That continued for a couple more days.

I couldn't take it, so I decided to alternate days of 3.5 mg and 4 mg. I'm way better. The symptoms aren't firing up and I can function. I'm planning to stay at this level for at least 2 weeks.

I finally realized my body is so sensitized to pred (from prior massive doses) that each mg acts like 10. On 4mg I feel exactly how I felt on 40mg. Same facial swelling, etc... My JHU ENT agreed. It's amazing to think that 0.5 mg of pred can make such a difference.