Weaning off Prednisone

[Guest guest]

Hi Dennis,

I've been slowly weaning myself off prednisone for the past 6 months. I was

only taking 5mg., but I have been on pred for 3 years. Even this small amount

gave me the moon face and the appetite of a starving lion! I've put on 20lbs.

since I've been on it.

I tried cutting my 5mg pills in half, but that was too big of a jump. I would

really flare everytime I cut back. Sooo..... I asked my dr. to give me 1mg.

pills. I've been going down 1mg. at a time. I stay at a level until I feel

fairly good for at least a couple of weeks - long enough to know that it isn't a

fluke.

I stayed a little more than a month at each level. Then I went down another

1mg. Now that I'm down to the last 1mg., I'm again cutting the pills in half.

At the moment, I'm alternating taking 1mg, then 1/2 mg. because I'm still

flaring a bit. As soon as things settle down, I'll go to 1/2mg every day, then

every other day, then nothing!!! I can't wait.

I hope you are able to get off the prednisone without flaring too much. Try

only going down a half mg. If that is still too much, try alternating doses,

taking 10mg one day and 9 the next before dropping to 9mg all the time. It will

probably take a while, but if you're patient, you will eventually be

predisone-free!!!

Good luck!

Vikki

[ ] sulfasalazine ? and more

All my doctors have told me that I have to get off Prednesone, so I'm trying

again. It seems that I drop from my normal 10 mg to 9 mg, and I can't get

past the pain that I suffer. It's a small decrease, but it whips me every

time. Today I'm hurting from my hair to toenails. Does anyone have a trick

or advice for me, or do I just suffer through it?

I'm looking at possible meds my Rheumy will prescribe for me after talking

to his nurse and having a list he gave me of the meds. Why would he

prescribe the sulfasalazine for my RA, and not Crohn's, which I don't have?

The other meds on his list are Plaquenil and azathioprine. Which of the 3 is

better or are they all basically the same?

Ken, I've had this mess for 15 years and remember having almost the same

dragging, boring time you're talking about. For a long while, I moved the

bed into the living room. That way I didn't have to walk much at all. One

thing I did to help me was to get a motorcycle, a Honda Gold Wing. When I

needed fresh air, I'd jump on it. Well, I kinda crawled to it, actually. It

has cruise control and reverse, so it's not much of a problem to operate,

and the fresh air and beautiful surroundings make you forget about your

problems for a while. It worked for me because it was a distraction that

helped. Now, after turning the bike into a trike so it won't fall over, I'm

into building my race car and things like that. You've got to do something,

even if it's just playing games on your new computer. That's another thing I

do. I build my own computers, write programs for them, and do other work on

them.

Dennis