Prednisone

[mtgas]

Hello all…I am a long time reader, first time poster 🙂

I have been on Prednisone since October 2007.  The maximum amount I have taken since that time is 10mg but have mainly been on 7.5mg for most of the time.

Thanks to this board and Henry Scammell & Dr. Browns' book, I made the wise decision to go to Ida Grove to get treated by Dr. S in April 2008.

I have been getting significantly better since then and have been tapering off Prednisone very slowly (.5mg every 4-5 weeks) and am now down to 4.5mg.

I was just curious if anyone knows how long the anti-inflammatory effects of Prednisone stays in the body.  I just dropped down to 4.5mg on Sunday and feel a little more achiness than usual. Nothing terrible…definitely manageable.

I know I haven?t been on the protocol for that long but I REALLY want to get off Prednisone! I don't want my adrenals to stop functioning and would prefer to use Aleve, if needed (Dr. S. seemed to agree with me on this!) I have read horror stories of the awful side effects of Prednisone after long term use and I don?t want my body to become dependent on it.

Thanks for any input you may have!

Happy New Year to all and I wish everyone continued healing and much success on their road back to health!

 

[Parisa]

Hi Mtgas,

It sounds like you're starting to hit line where your body is starting to miss the prednisone.  I've read different articles but it seems that the body makes between 5-3 mgs on its own.  Sounds like you're doing a good job at taking it nice and slow.  Hopefully, in a few more days, your body will readjust and figure out that it needs to start making prednisone again and your discomfort will ease up.  One thing you can try is taking your dose every other day.  So, if you are currently taking 4.5 mg – you take 9 mg every other day.  Supposedly, the off days help to wake up the adrenals and let them know they need to start working again.

[Rosey UK]

Hi

I take preds too. started last june on 20mg it made me feel healthy and a great well being feeling. then as I was weaning down and got to 5mg very ill again and full of pain. Now I fluctuate fron 10mg and 7.5mg and 5mg, but alway end up back on 10mg because I go really bad again.

From what you say it sounds like I may need to go more gradual to a lower dose but I know I would be ill again without them and I don't want to go on any other drugs.

Good luck

Rosemary

[Rockin Annie]

Hi Mtgas,

I also am on 5 mg Pred, will start weaning next week after all my Chrissy visitors leave, I have weaned before and the achiness is not pleasant and have gone backup, but this time I am going to get off the stuff.

Parisa makes a lot of sense and I will try it that way and see how I go, it didn't occur to me that the body needs to wake up and make it own, thanks Parisa.

………………….Annie

Diagnosed with RA in 2004, after trying many conventional meds I changed to mino.
2015 changed to doxy 50mgs
2016 went off doxy, after getting double pneumonia and massive flare put myself on 250 mgs Zith & 50 mgs doxy, which I will increase slowly.
Supps, magnesium, NAC, vit c, krill oil, oregano oil, thisylin, turmeric, olive leaf extract, vit B, multi vit.

[mtgas]

[user=13]Parisa[/user] wrote:

 So, if you are currently taking 4.5 mg – you take 9 mg every other day.  Supposedly, the off days help to wake up the adrenals and let them know they need to start working again.

Hi Parisa,

That's a good idea…never thought of it! Thanks for your input!

Michelle

[mtgas]

[user=115]Rosey UK[/user] wrote:

From what you say it sounds like I may need to go more gradual to a lower dose but I know I would be ill again without them and I don't want to go on any other drugs.

Hi Rosemary,

I tried dropping from 7.5mg to 5mg once because I did not think it was such a huge drop but I felt it! You definitely need to lower the dosage very gradually if not, you will feel awful. Dropping .5mg at a time has worked quite well for me and I usually stay on that regiment for at least 4 weeks.

Good luck to you too!

Michelle

[mtgas]

[user=807]Rockin Annie[/user] wrote:

Parisa makes a lot of sense and I will try it that way and see how I go, it didn't occur to me that the body needs to wake up and make it own, thanks Parisa.

Hi Annie,

I remember reading on this board somewhere that your adrenals start to kick in once you reach about 5mg of prednisone, which is why I was wondering how long the anti-inflammatory effects last. Since I am on 4.5mg now, I am assuming (God willing!) that my adrenals are slowly starting to kick in to produce its own form of cortisone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed 🙂

Michelle

[linda]

You are sooooo smart to be weaning off the prednisone, and it sounds like you are doing it wisely as well. I don't think it stays in your system for long because of all the warnings about not stopping abruptly. There have been a couple of times when I ran out and couldn't get a refill until the next day, and I felt pretty sick. Nauseated, headache, and shaky. I've been trying to wean off pred for a long time, but in the last 2 yrs every time I get down to 10 mg I get a flare. It's very frustrating, but I'll continue to try. There are some things you can do to help your adrenals return to normal function but off hand I don't know what they are. I believed there is an article somewhre in the education section of the site that goes into detail about weaning off of prednisone. Go to the home page and scroll all the way down to the bottom, click on education and just start looking thru the articles. Cheryl, please correct me if I'm wrong about that! But it sounds like you've already done all the hard work and are almost home free. Good for you!

linda

[lynnie_sydney]

Hi everyone –  I am pasting a response to this question that I found from our Board from 2006, posted by a very experienced long-term APer who weaned herself off pred after 22 years of taking it! BTW there is some great info on this you can access from the Old Board. Just follow the links that Cheryl has provided in the main menu of this Board. When the Old BOard (which will be blank) comes up, just click on the search function on the left. When this comes up to the right of your screen, type in something like 'prednisone weaning' and a host of questions and responses will come up. Meantime, here is Leslie's post from 2006:

Hi Janie, I was on prednisone for 22 years before AP. It took me 2 years on AP to finally get off that drug. The last 5 mg are the toughest. I dropped about 1/4th mg at a time (used 1 mg tablets to do that). I would stabilize and then drop another 1/4th mg. And so on — it was a longer process but it worked.
Within 2 days of being entirely off prednisone I had an “emergence reaction” that a doctor described as my body realizing there was no more exogenous cortisone and my adrenals had to produce now. It was a very difficult time and I hurt worse that I had ever experienced. But, when it was over, it was like peace had decended upon me and I KNEW I was permanently off that drug.
Have been off prednisone for 7 years now. Hope you can take your time and do it the way you need to. Don't rush this one and be sure to keep your doctor in the loop. I wish you good luck with this tough stage of your road back
Posted by Leslie (sle) AP ~9 years

NB This is the link that will take you to the Old Board
https://www.roadback.org/cgi-bin/eboard30/index.cgi?board=Main

Additionally, you may find helpful this askthedoc article that I found. It goes into  weaning off, how difficult the last 5mg (and below) are and what might help the adrenals at this time.  Link to it is below. Lynnie

http://www.westonaprice.org/askdoctor/steroids.html

 

Be well! Lynnie

Palindromic RA 30 yrs (Chronic Lyme?)
Mino 2003-2008 100mg MWF - can no longer tolerate any tetracyclines
rotating abx protocol now. From Sep 2018 MWF - a.m. Augmentin Duo 440mg + 150mg Biaxsig (roxithromycin). p.m. Cefaclor (375mg) + Klacid 125mg + LDN 3mg + Annual Clindy IV's
Diet: no gluten, dairy, sulphites, low salicylates
Supps: 600mg N-AC BID, 1000mg Vit C, P5P 40mg, zinc picolinate 60mg, Lithium orotate 20mg, Magnesium Oil, Bio-identical hormones (DHEA + Prog + Estrog)

[Rosey UK]

Hi

you know all this info with preds sounds great. But when I went on them in the first place I was ill  really poorley and crying all the time with no quality of life. I started the preds last June and for the first time felt great, by then I had been on AP about 8 months my condition never changed during that time I was on abx but I continued with them and prednisolone. I stopped the abx (doxycycline 100mg m-w-f. to try eliminating foods and see if that would help I have taken them just over 12 months. I know thats not enough time for some but I have felt better after stopping them but may be because of prednisolone.

My concern is if I was so bad when I went on the preds how am I going to cope without them? I'll just be weaning off them on to ME and ME didn't work in the first place.

Rosemary :headbang:

[Rosey UK]

Lynnie your a genius!

I wrote a message and the read your's and went on the link weston price. and it's all clear now. What pillarks we have as doctors.

Thank you

Rosemary

[mtgas]

Hi Linda,

Thanks for your response. You are definately right in that we can assist out adrenals – I will check out the education section for more information. 😀 My acupuncturist told me that acupuncture helps the adrenals, which is maybe why I am not doing so bad in tapering down.  I hope you are able to taper off if it too without any adverse side effects. It is such a great feeling every time I drop it down .5mg. It puts a huge smile on my face. LOL.

Michelle

[mtgas]

Hi Lynnie,

Thanks for finding that old post. That is encouraging to know that Leslie was able to get off prednisone after 22 years! Wow! I am going to search the archives for more information. Great link too, by the way.

Thanks!

Michelle

[Rockin Annie]

Hi Lynnie,

Thanks for that post, I am going to start weaning off my 5 mg next monday and will do what the post said. It sounds very encouraging and at least if I know what to expect I can deal with it..

Thanks again……………..Annie

Diagnosed with RA in 2004, after trying many conventional meds I changed to mino.
2015 changed to doxy 50mgs
2016 went off doxy, after getting double pneumonia and massive flare put myself on 250 mgs Zith & 50 mgs doxy, which I will increase slowly.
Supps, magnesium, NAC, vit c, krill oil, oregano oil, thisylin, turmeric, olive leaf extract, vit B, multi vit.

[Author]

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