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  • #454098
    Airen
    Participant

    I’ve been on 15 msg since March. I’ve recently gone down to 10. My dr wants me down to 5 for November and 2.5 for December. I started mino in July and am just starting to feel better and notice improvements. I’ve been feeling so good the last 7 days I attempted tapering my pred from 10 to 7.5 the last two days. Woke up this morning feeling awful!!! In so much pain everywhere!! When should I start to taper the pred? Did I start too soon after feeling better? Did I go down too much?? I have 10 mg pills so I am quartering these. I don’t have 1 mg pills but I could ask for some. Insight on properly tapering as to avoid feeling like this would be greatly appreciated!!

    Diagnosed with RA in October 2014, pain started in February 2014
    Started AP in June 2015
    Taking daily: 32.5 mg WP thyroid 6 am, 100 mg mino 9 am, 16.25 mg WP thyroid 2 pm, B Complex for MTHFR mutation 3 pm, Multivitamin 3pm, 100 bil powdered probiotics 6 pm, 5-8,000 iu Vit D 6 pm, 100 mg mino 9 pm

    #454100
    Calida
    Participant

    Good Morning Airen!

    I’ve been on low dose prednisone since 2013. After 2 or 3 failed attempts at reducing, I developed a tapering method that is working well so far. It requires patience, especially for those of us who are very sensitive to each decrease in mg, and listening to your body is key. Your body may be able to handle a faster decrease.

    Reducing from 10mg to 5mg should be easier than 5mg to zero – those last 5 are notoriously difficult. Some weeks were easier than others so I sped up the process and slowed the process when my body reacted negatively. You may feel a little uncomfortable for a day or two but definitely not awful. Here is my schedule:

    Month one: Alternate 10mg/7.5mg every other day for 2 weeks then take 7.5 daily for 2 weeks.
    Month two: 7.5/5mg every other day for 2 weeks, 5mg daily for 2 weeks
    Month three: 5/4.5 x 2 weeks, 4.5 daily x 2 weeks
    Month four: 4.5/4.0 x 2 weeks, 4.0 daily x 2 weeks
    Month five: 4.0/3.5 x 2 weeks, 3.5 daily x 2 weeks
    Month six: 3.5/3.0 x 2 weeks, 3.0 daily x 2 weeks.

    This is a general plan and I’m at 3 mg daily after about 4 months because I was able to speed up the process when my body didn’t react to a reduction from one dose to another. If my body didn’t like the reduction, I went back to the previous higher dose for about a week and then tried again. I think I may get to zero pred by the end of my sixth month.

    Hope this helps!

    Cali

    Dx: Diffuse Systemic Sclerosis/SLE overlap, Raynaud's June 2013, Lyme August 2013
    AP: Azithromycin (Teva) 250mg BID, May 2014, Clindamycin 600mg every 8 hours for 2 weeks July 27, 2015 - Aug 10, 2015
    Minocycline (Teva generic) 100mg BID November 20, 2014
    Meds: LDN 3.5 mg, Prednisone 5 mg (discontinued), Aspirin 81mg, Liposomal Artimisinin 50mg QID x 3 weeks, 4th week off, rotating (discontinued May 2015, restarted 2016 7 days per month), Daily Nystatin, 2 tabs BID, as a preventative measure
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    #454101
    Airen
    Participant

    Awesome thanks so much Cali!! I will def try this method!!

    Diagnosed with RA in October 2014, pain started in February 2014
    Started AP in June 2015
    Taking daily: 32.5 mg WP thyroid 6 am, 100 mg mino 9 am, 16.25 mg WP thyroid 2 pm, B Complex for MTHFR mutation 3 pm, Multivitamin 3pm, 100 bil powdered probiotics 6 pm, 5-8,000 iu Vit D 6 pm, 100 mg mino 9 pm

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