Prednisone weaning, when to call Doc?

[blackli]

Hi all, I have been weaning off prednisone for the last few months, started at 50 mg, now down to the dreaded 5mg dosage. Have stayed at this dose now for 2 weeks now, as am having lots of withdrawal stuff. Horrid headaches, depression, fatigue, some more pain and more frequent trips to the bathroom etc. From once a day to 4 X a day now. Also started weekly injections of methotrexate a few weeks ago after GI visit to aim at remission again. I thought I could tough out the withdrawal as I really want off this stuff before Christmas, but not getting any better. Low energy and headaches are constant. Delaying calling my GI as she will undoubtedly say to increase prednisone again for a while. Anyone have any idea how long these symptoms last? I haven't had this kind of withdrawal stuff for years. Thanks for your input, even though I know you will all likely say to call the doctor!

 

[Johnnysmom]

My son had many of the same symptoms as he finished tapering. I remember him having pretty bad headaches, D, and fatigue. He really did feel pretty poorly. I called and checked in with the nurse and she felt it was fairly normal but appreciated being updated. He continued with the taper and things slowly got better. It took 2-3 weeks before he was on the up swing. Once he got down to 5mg though things didn't get worse. I think it's a tough call because sometimes you do need to taper more slowly. Talk to your Dr about it, they see this all the time and they will know if your experiencing some normal stuff as your body adjusts or if you need to slow it down. I thought for sure my son would need to slow down his taper but he didn't and has stayed off of Prednisone ever since.

Hang in there!! Once your done, you will start to feel better. (((((Hugs))))))