Re: I wondered if anyone else feels the same? Prednisone reduction plan !

[Guest guest]

Stu

I would like to tell you about a medication reduction program that

really works. I have used it for two different drugs and it worked

without any withdrawl problems. I was put on zanax when the monster

first attacked my brain. I am also now using it for a prednisone

reduction. You reduce it 1mg a month, no faster than that. Now this

is for those taking the pills.Say you were taking 20mg a day.

Week-1 take 19mg tuesday and thursday. 20mg on other days.

Week-2 take 19mg monday wednesday and friday-20mg other days

Week-3 take 19mg any 5days that week-20 the other days

Week-4 take 19mg everyday that week

Week 5 if it's 5 week month 19mg until week 6 or the first sunday of

the month.

month 2

week-1 18mg tues and thursday- 19mg the other days that week.

week-2 18mg monday wednesday and friday-19mg the other days

then just continue the reduction like month one weeks.

I am now down to 15mg and really have to say there has been no

problems.

a couple of weeks ago there was a bad storm front moving in I began

to hurt all over- I took 20mg which was my routine old dose. It made

no difference in how I felt so I new it was not the lower dose of

prednisoneaking me feel bad. So returned to that weeks schedule the

next day.

Judy in PA

> >

> > Stu,

> > If the steroids work for you-- great! Yeah, the wreak havoc on

> your body--

> > but so does the sarc.

> > Steroids are something that you cannot come off quickly-- it

takes

> a long,

> > long time to wean off them--with episodes of having to increase

the

> dose, then

> > back it down even slower, and this can repeat itself many times

over.

> > What happens with steroids is that when we take either the oral

or

> IV-- our

> > adrenals stop making the 15mg of cortosol that they make each

day.

> So, you

> > have to retrain your adrenals to make this hormone-- or you end

up

> with the

> > adrenal insufficiency (rapid heartbeat, panic, pain, confusion,

> sweats, chills,

> > etc.) The adrenals seem to like having been on vacation, so

> getting them to

> > kick in with this hormone is a tough journey.

> > Some people NEED to stay on steroids forever-- and by adding

another

> > immunosupressant to the mix- can get better control over their

sarc.

> > As you know, steroids make blood sugars go out of control, they

> harden your

> > arteries, they thin your bones. Some people get early cataracts

> (over 97% of

> > the population will get cataracts- it's a natural aging process

of

> the lens

> > of the eye)- but we may deal with it when we are in our 50's or

> 60's. (We

> > would have had to deal with it in our 60's or 70's anyway.)

> > So what you do is watch your diet, get the calcium you need- (if

> your sarc

> > produces too much calcium, then supplements may be out of the

> picture), get

> > some form of weight bearing exercise to keep the bones as strong

as

> > possible.,*(even if it's just 5 or 6 min on a treadmill), and do

> what you know to do to

> > take care of the issues as well as you can.

> > We all know that we can only do a small amount of what we used to

> do-- but

> > do the small amount.

> > I agree with you completely, damn the side effects at least for

> now- we're

> > alive!

> >

> > Take care,

> > Tracie

> > NS Co-owner/moderator

> >

> >

> >

> > ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the

> all-new AOL at

> > http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

> >

>