Decreasing pred again!

[Chris G]

Screamin -
I can't remember.......when were your rtx infusions? I think they were a few weeks before mine (May 13 & 27). My pred taper stalled out at 15 about 5 weeks ago - I went back up to 17.5 for a few weeks, now I'm back at 15 again. I think we tapered a little too fast in my case. I seem to be holding better at 15 this time. I'll be trying 12.5 in a week or so (maybe longer - I'm a little gun shy).

[jola57]

Chris, I tapered very slowly from 15 on down, actually by 1mg per month or more. When you hit 10 go verrrry slow. I have been holding on 4mg for the past 4 months because of lowering mtx down to 7.5 To both of you good luck in the slow lane.

[Chris G]

Boooooo! I hate life in the slow lane! But I guess it's necessary........I'll be careful.

[elephant]

Hey Jola, Im hanging on to 4 mg of prednisone for a while. In Sept I think I will try 3.5mg and stay on for a couple of months....im moving at a turtle's pace..

[drz]

Chris, I tapered very slowly from 15 on down, actually by 1mg per month or more. When you hit 10 go verrrry slow. I have been holding on 4mg for the past 4 months because of lowering mtx down to 7.5 To both of you good luck in the slow lane.

How slow do you need to go? I am trying 1/2 mg every two weeks or 1 mg a month but wonder if that is too fast. Currently at 6 1/2.

[elephant]

I would try to go very slow after 5 mg of pred, thats when it starts to get very hard to wean. I rather go very slow then start all over again. Going down 1/2 mg every 4 weeks, should do it...hopefully.

[mishb]

I have just had a month of 7.5 one day and 5mg the next, alternating each day for a month.
This month I go 7.5 one day and then 5mg for the next two days and then 7.5 then 5 for the next two etc.
Next month is just 5mg and I think that is where they want me to stay for a while because of my RA.

I'm not sure if it is just in my mind but I feel like I can tell the difference between the 7.5 and 5 as my knees and hands seem to have a slight ache to them, it's not pain as such but an achy tiredness.

Good luck to everyone on their taper mission

[drz]

How slow do you need to go? I am trying 1/2 mg every two weeks or 1 mg a month but wonder if that is too fast. Currently at 6 1/2.

I am going down to 6 1/4 next week and then 6 for next step. I think I will try 3 weeks between steps too. I found I was extremely fatigued for several days when I went from 7 to 6 1/2 which surprised me since i didn't think 1/2 mg would be that noticeable.

[julia]

My memory is shot and I am not sure I wrote this down anywhere but, Last October I believe my doctor had me do 5mg pred one day zero the next. I did this for about 3-4 months than he had me do 2.5 one day zero the next. I believe his plan was than to go to zero after 4 months.

Instead I went from 2.5 one day zero the next. After 2 months I did 1.25 one day and zero the next. I did 1.25 one day zero the next for about 6 weeks. Than I took 1.25 about every third day for 2 weeks. After this I stopped taking pred.
I did not intend on not following the doctors schedule but I was using up my 5mg pills cutting them in half. When these ran out I started using the 2.5 mg pills but was in the habit of splitting the pills so after about 10 days I realized what I had done but really was not having trouble with the drop so I stuck with it.

I have to say when I was at 5mg one day/ zero the next. Than dropped to 2.5 one day zero the next, it was one of the easiest drops I had. I barely noticed it.

[ScreaminMeanie]

Screamin -
I can't remember.......when were your rtx infusions? I think they were a few weeks before mine (May 13 & 27). My pred taper stalled out at 15 about 5 weeks ago - I went back up to 17.5 for a few weeks, now I'm back at 15 again. I think we tapered a little too fast in my case. I seem to be holding better at 15 this time. I'll be trying 12.5 in a week or so (maybe longer - I'm a little gun shy).

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, Chris. We did rtx at about the same time - mine was April 29-May 20 - only I had 4 doses, and I guess you had two. I was lucky in that I was already down to 5mg daily when I started the rtx, so I didn't have far to go.

I'm now down to alternating 2.5 and 0 mg. Two more weeks and I'm supposed to stop taking it altogether. I've noticed a little "draggy" feeling the first couple of days after I went from 5/2.5 to 2.5 every day, and from 2.5 every day to alternating 2.5/0. That feeling has gone away after just a day or two, though.

I got a cold from an inconsiderate co-worker two weeks ago that almost immediately became a sinus infection. My rheumy is out of town for a week, so I went to see my GP, and he has me on doxycycline. Two days in, and I'm much better. I have to be on it for 14 days, so I'm probably going to wait another week after I'm done with the anti-b before I stop taking the pred. I might also want to keep the Bactrim going a couple weeks longer than the pred, as well.

Fingers still crossed!!!