Guest guest Posted June 25, 2005 Report Share Posted June 25, 2005 I have found that going up on prednisone should be one milligram at a time. My metabolism suffers otherwise. The stress dose a dr gives you wreaks havoc with it so I take my base of five in the am and then add two in the P.M. If I taper down, it is half a pill a week. I never go below five and always split my dosage so I have the most during the day and less at night for relief. I take 6 or 7 milligrams now AM because of flaring, and wait until bedtime when I take another one or two. I will never go up higher than 10. I challenge myself. If I need more than 10 then its time to assess my BIOLOGIC. With MTX I am getting along. I am 90 pounds but have been as high as 150 one a five two frame. Going up on the prednisone directly correlates and effects my thyroid which is overactive and causes hormonal symptoms too. I may have to have the node on my thyroid removed to give me some relief. I may be flaring because of the thyroid. Its all related in RA. That's why they call it connective tissue. Be well everyone.......Deborah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 Hey : Congratulations to you on your engagement! How exciting for you. As far as tapering goes, someone here once linked a site of how to taper when you get to very low amounts. Has to do with going back and forth between different doses day by day to slowly wean yourself off. Maybe someone will remember that site. I was doing great on 2 two yeasr ago and decided to just go down to 1 without talking to anyone and put myself in a full flare. I don't know whether or not that was the only reason for the flare, but after going back up to 10, I'm now back down to 5. If I can get down to 2 again, I may not try to disturb the balance again. Don't a lot of people take really low doses (under 5) for really long times? ly, I don't want to risk another flare like that and get bumped up again. As far as weight gain, I've probably put on about 20 pounds and gone up two sizes. But that really happened when I couldn't use my foot anymore to run or walk. So it's been over the course of about 3 years. gloria -----Original Message----- From: Maggie <meshouse@...> Rheumatoid Arthritis Sent: Fri, 01 Jul 2005 10:05:22 -0400 Subject: Re: Tapering Prednisone Hi Steph Each month my doctor takes me down 2.5 mgs. I think he'll prolly go to ..5's when I get lower. I'm down to 5 mgs from 15 (20mgs at some times). Did you do anything different to get down to a 12 or did the weight just come off from going off of prednisone? I get more flares now tho. Congrats to you! I hope you will be able to get off of it soon :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maggie http://www.4HockeyFans.com http://www.4FloridaHockey.com MSN: Maggies1429 AOL: Maggies85 DeNicola wrote: > Hi everyone, > Tapering prednisone has been a long and weary battle for me. I > have been on it since I was dx'd in 1999. My peak dose was 80 mg a > day. My current, 3.5 mg a day, is my lowest. I also began tapering 1 > milligram at a time since 15mg/day. under 5 mg/day my rheumy was so > conserned about my body rejecting the dose that I have had to taper ..5 > mg at a time. > > My dress size before prednisone was a 6. At my peak weight gain I > was an 18. > > My best friend is getting married on July 30th and my bridesmaid > dress is a size 12! Woohoo! > > I just got engaged a few weeks ago. Chad & I are getting married > next May and I hope ( & pray) that I hope totally off of the prednisone > by then. > > Take care, > > Steph in VA > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 1, 2005 Report Share Posted July 1, 2005 First congratualtions , not only on the engagement but the size 12 as well!!! I am in the process of tapering too... currently at 6, things have mellowed out a bit. 8 to 7 was a total nightmare, 7 to 6 a bit better. I go to 5 on Sunday and am a bit nervous about it but will hold a good thought. Is there any benefit to staying on a low dose for a long period? Does the drug still do anything? I gained 30 pounds while going up as high as 15. I really hope going down will help because the old " watch what you eat " and " exercise more " sure doesn't seem to be working as well as in the past... Be well everyone, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 8, 2005 Report Share Posted September 8, 2005 Hi a, I was just reading this with much interest. My dexa scan was not good at all. Plus I am losing height which really surprised me. I use to be 5 ft 10, I am now 5ft 8. So they told me to try and loss the predisone. Which I am doing right now. I hope this all goes well. If I had know about all the side effects 9 years ago I would never have taken it. My scan is so much worse than it was two years ago. At that time I was told it looked good. Lynn a wrote: > , > > When you start taking prednisone, your body stop producing it's own. > When you start to taper, it forces your body to make it's > own steroids and the lag time can be painful. The longer on > prednisone, the harder it is to taper off. Some people can only decrease > by 1/2 mg a day or every other day, and it can take a year or more to > completely get off. Others that haven't been on it long can taper > more quickly. > We're all different and react differently. I can't tell you anything > from experience since I've refused to take prednisone, knowing it's > potential for serious side effects. Many here have had experience > with tapering and can tell you from experience. I have many links about > prednisone and tapering on my website: > > http://rheumatoid.arthritis.freehosting.net/drugs.html#prednisone > > Good luck with you taper. I hope you're able to do it without a great > deal of pain. > > a > > On Sep 8, 2005, at 2:15 AM, wrote: > > > Hi everyone, > > My doc wanted me to try tapering down my prednisone from 10 > > mg a day > > to 7.5mg a day. I have tried it for a week now and notice a definite > > increase in pain. He didn't say how long to try it before deciding it > > wasn't working. Anyone have any experience with this? What did you > > do? How long did you try reduced dose? Thanks. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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