My rheumy just recently decreased my prednisone intake to 5 mg one time a day vs 5 mg twice a day.
I've recently noticed a mild increase in pain over the last week. Would the decrease in prednisone cause a flare up?
Absolutely! The more steriods (prednisone) in your body, the better you feel. You may want to ask your Rheumy to boost yours back up to 10 mg until your other medications are adjusted to help more. It's not great to be on prednisone for an extended time, due to the long term side effects. (and my least favorite... the weight gain) But it sure is helpful until you get the correct medications/dosages regulated.
Hope you feel better soon,
Suzi
- Thank you for your input
- Ranked Helpful (2)
- Report Abuse
Yep! I have been stepping down my prednisone as well and finally hit my base dose and I too have noticed the increased pain and discomfort as well. Talk to your DR. he/she might let you step up a 1/2 dose to see if that helps. Hopefully you are taking other meds besides the prednisone as it alone isn't much of a help. Hang in there. :)
LeighAnn
- Thank you for your input
- Ranked Helpful (3)
- Report Abuse
I started coming off the prednisone, and am down from 15mg a day to much less. But, I'm having to do it by reducing 2 1/2 mg per day for 2 weeks at a time, then reducing it another 2 1/2. Everyone is different, and there are folks who have had to do it 1 mg at a time, for a couple of weeks at a time.
You can also get what is called a 'rebound' reaction. (I did.) Meaning the prednisone all of a sudden does the opposite of what it should. This can happen even with slow small withdrawel. Pain type medication - even tylenol helps - has gotten me past that increase in pain, which seems to pass as your body gets used to the reduced dosage. It's like when you use a nose spray like Afrin for too long to unstop your nose - suddenly you'll use it and instead of unstopping your nose, it stops it up completely.
Another thing that has helped is Vit C - which is the natural prednisone. I actually take 10,000 mg a day - started with less, and increased it until I got some 'intestinal distress', which is your body's way of telling you that you're taking enough. Keep trying to get off the prednisone tho, it's not something you want to take forever if there's another way.
- Thank you for your input
- Ranked Helpful (3)
- Report Abuse
