Questions about coming off Prednisone

[autumn_rose]

I've been on prednisone for quite some time now (almost a year) and I've been on 40mg a day for a while (over 6 months, I believe). I'm about to start tapering my dose, with a goal of getting to 5mg and then coming off, and I'm wondering about going through withdrawal. Is it common to have withdrawal, and what are the symptoms I might experience? And what can I do to help cope with such and ease the symptoms? Thanks!

 

[My Butt Hurts]

I never had any pred withdrawal when coming off of it. It's such a slow taper that you will probably be fine. I know a few others had joint pain when they came off of it, but I think most people don't notice anything.
Often the taper is decreased by 5mg each week. The last time I was on pred I decreased by 5mg every 2 weeks just to slow it down even more and worked very well.

 

[autumn_rose]

Whew! It's good to hear that! I was worried that I might feel really ill, or be really moody and jittery or something. Thanks for the replies!

 

[katiesue1506]

My understanding is the longer and higher a dose you are on, the longer and slower a taper you need. So it makes sense that you have such a long taper. I was on 40mg my first time for like 4 months and it took another 4 for tapering (or something like that) but this time I was on 40mg for 3 weeks and I have an 8 week taper.