Taper Drop Too Much?

[Ness]

hello hello, my fellow Crohnies. I'll make this short and sweet ...

I was put on Prednisone in December, tapered down from 40mg. Beginning of February, I was off of them but had no treatment to roll on to. Started 6MP and was put back on 40mg of Pred. I just dropped from 40-30mg last week, was feeling pretty damn good, by comparison to now.

Lots of bloating, painful/CRAMPY bowel movements, some sharp pains again, lower abdomen is pretty sore. I don't even want to eat! I recall possibly having issues with a 10mg taper before. And it always seems on day 6 or 7 I feel the best, but then I have to drop. I understand my doc wants me off of pred ASAP but I think my body needs a slower taper. I think more like 5mg every 10 days would be ideal.

Does this sound familiar with anyone? More specifically, symptoms can get worse or come back on too fast of a taper?


I've been diagnosed with Crohn's in the small intestine, the jujunem to be exact. It's been a little over a year. So far, it seems my triggers are SMOKING and possibly stress.

If anyone can offer meditation exercises or any advice in addition to exercise for calming the mind, that would be superb. I am a freelance producer/videographer and stress is pretty common in my life. Not ideal with Crohns and have even contemplated a career change for fear of provoking the disease. Then again, people encourage me to not make such a choice based on the disease and I should find a way.

It all starts with control. Again, any advice would be handi.

Prednisone = prime example of a love/hate relationship.

 

[littlemissh]

Hi Ness,
I too have upper gi and small bowel crohns and had a real problem when I had my pred tapered too quickly (though I was on a 5mg every week taper). My GI put me on a slower taper initially 2.5mg per week , then 2.5mg every 2 weeks whilst aza took effect.
This initially worked really well for me. Its worth giving your gi a ring or email and asking about a slower taper- it will probably end up with a lower total dose than having to keep hiking up the dose if symptoms are much worse.

The other thing that works better for those with upper gi crohn's is a liquid based diet or even exclusive elemental diet. (enteral nutrition)

 

[Jennifer]

The 6MP needs time to start working so it could be a combination of too quick and too soon of a taper. Its very common to feel poorly from a fast taper so definitely let your doctor know that you would prefer to try 5mg at a time and later on cut those in half as suggested.