Tapering Prednisone Question!!

[STLGirl]

I'm tapering Pred. from 60mg and am down to 5mg starting today. I have been on Pred for 2 months now. Each week I have gone down 5mg and I have had no problems. My question is: what has your Dr had you do once you have gotten to 5mg? Stop after a week or gone down to 2mg or what? And after you were totally off Pred. , did you have any "withdraws" ? And when will this silly moon face go totally away? Thanks in advance for your answers!

 

[DustyKat]

Hey Sara,

I can't answer all your questions as my son is also in the process of tapering off Pred. He started at 40mg and is also tapering at 5mg but every 5 days. Once he is down to 5mg he will finish at that. He was also commenced on Imuran at the same time as the Pred so the idea would be that it will take over from the Pred.

He hasn't had the usual side effects that many others suffer, including the moon face, with so I don't know if he is fortunate or if it means it isn't doing the job it should be!

I hope things continue to go well for you, good luck!

Dusty.

 

[Misty-Eyed]

I think I went from 5mg to nothing in the end. But don't worry, the moon face shall go! It might just take a little bit of time.

 

[STLGirl]

Thanks Dusty and Misty! Good to know my fat little face will go down soon ! I'm starting Imuran 50mg soon too. But tomorrow my husband and I are starting Chantix, to stop smoking and after a week on that then I think the Dr. is starting me on Imuran. Plus I had some major dental work done and Dr wanted to start me on Imuran after that was done. (For healing faster purposes)
Dusty, I have a question.....after your son is on 50 mg of Imuran for a while then is he upped to more? Like 100mg? I read in someones post that they went up after awhile and I didn't understand why. Is that a common thing?

 

[DustyKat]

Yes Sara he will go up to 100mg. The only reason he is still on 50mg is we are waiting for his TMPT assay test to come back. That's the test that determines if you have the enzyme necessary to process the Imuran. As a general rule I think they initially determine your dosage by your weight, that being 2mg per kilo, or maybe they did that way because of age. He is 50 kilos so fits nicely at 100mg.

Oops, I guess I should also add here that Roo has remained on 50mg for 4 years now. Roo wasn't diagnosed until she had emergency surgery and she then went immediately into remission and has stayed that way. Her bloods have always been normal since then so they have never adjusted her dose.

HTH,
Dusty

 

[STLGirl]

Wow, that's awesome for Roo! Bless her darlin' heart, I hope it stays that way.
Thanks for all your info, I understand it better now. BTW Happy New Year to you and your sweet family

 

[Silvermoon]

You can quit after 5 days at 5 mg (after the rest of your taper) or the other thing my doc has done (to make ME feel more comfortable than anything) is 5 mg every other day for about a week and then stop... either way is fine......

Some people do go through a bit of a withdrawl.... possibly some cramping or just feeling "icky".... I am not sure if it is related to the prednisone itself, or if a person just feels SO good on prednisone (for the most part) that when the "regular" aches and pains start to come back they notice them a bit more.... Either way, if you don't feel right, see your doctor, as something else may be happpening and you'd rather catch it sooner than later.

As for moon face... it goes, but sometimes can take a while. Drinking lots of water (at least 2 liters a day) will help it go faster, and it might help with the quitting smoking thing too, as you tend to flush the "cravings" from your body (or so I've been told anyway..lol).

I hope all goes well for you!

 

[Creepy Lurker]

I always struggled to get off pred.

I'd hit 20mg and flare up again. In the end, I had to drop in 2.5 decrements until 5mg, then I'd drop by 1mg steps.

Was 5 the natural amount the body produces? I can't remember.

 

[katiesue1506]

The body naturally produces 3-5 mg on its own and it stops doing that if you're on higher doses of Pred for a long time. We all know this, but I'll run through it again for those who may not. This is why when tapering, most people can't just go from 5 to none. I've always tapered from 5 to 4 to 3 to 2.5 to 2 to 1 and I haven't had issues coming off of it. My tapers have also been pretty slow in the bigger increments too (such as 40-35-30-25-20-17.5-15-12.5-10-7.5-5 and so on)

Its a long and drawn out process, but in the end you're better for it.

 

[Rose City]

I tapered 5mg a week from 40 (I believe). I asked my doc if I should go to 2.5 and he said no, cause he wanted to get me off of it. There shouldn't be an issue stopping at 5.

Congrats on getting off of it. It's the worst.

 

[My Butt Hurts]

If you made it down to 5 with no problems, you should be fine stopping completely. Last time I tapered, I stayed on 5 mg for 2 weeks, then 2 1/2 for two weeks just to make sure.

 

[STLGirl]

Thanks everyone! You all are great! I will be talking to my GI tomorrow to see what he wants me to do from here but it has been great hearing what YOU (the real experts) have done and what works best for you. Thanks again (Personally I would love to just stop at 5mg and get off it but I also don't want any thing negitive to happen)

 

[aliciars]

I was wondering the same thing...about moon face. I stopped taking prednisone after 5 full months and 20+ pounds of weight gain...So while the moon face is bad enough on it's own, mine is supported by the weight. YUCK!
Also, I just started 50mg Imuran myself - just last week. I also started fish oil...not sure what is working, but something is finally starting to work in the bowel dept. Now if I could just stop getting colds and such that keep coming my way I'd be super!