Hi Patty,
When you taper off pred, do it very slowly. Otherwise, you may experience more severe withdrawal symptoms.
When I got down to 15 mg, my taper was -2.5 mg/month down to 10 mg. From there, it was -1 mg/month down to where I noticed disease symptoms returning (3 mg in my case). I went back up to 5 mg and called my rheumy. She put me on four weekly rtx infusions and took me off mtx. I finish this round of rtx on Thursday. I'll stay on 5 mg/day of pred until I see my rheumy again in early November.
Other than some sleeplessness caused by solumedrol (steroid given with rtx), slight fatigue the day following each infusion, and an episode of heartburn (calmed with peptobismol), I feel great.
Pete
dx 1/11
"Every day is a good day. Some are better than others." - unknown
"Take your meds as directed and live your life as fully as you can." - Michael Chacey, MD
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