Tapering HELP please!!!

So I'm on 40mg of Pred. That GI that I won't be going back to, wanted me to get down to 20 mg in one week, and then stay there for a few weeks (since I'll be out of town). I'd like to go slower then that!

But I have no clue on how to go about this. These are 20 mg tablets, so I guess I can break them up in to 4's if need be? Then come down 5mg a week? I have no idea why he couldn't have given me smaller mg pills so that I could have done this easier.

In all honesty I'd like to just stay at 40mg until I get back from vacation. Since I am improving but not out of the flare yet anyway (I haven't even been on it for 2 weeks yet). Tapering right before going on a trip sounds scary to me. I'd rather do it close to home in case something happens. But I don't know if it would be safe to stay on it at 40mg for another 3 weeks, then start tapering? I have no idea what the usual length of time people are on the higher dosages?

Really would have been nice to have a good doctor on this stuff. Ugh. Any help is MUCH appreciated!

Since you haven't been at 40 very long, you probably won't have a problem going down to 20. If you do, you can always go back up to the 40, or try 30 first. Yes, you could stay at the 40 for another 3 weeks...you are going to start getting more side effects if you do. I was on 60 for a couple of months before I started tapering.

So since I haven't been on it that long, it's pretty typical to go from 40 to 30 one week? And then 30 to 20 the next? I'm also not sure how I could cut those in to quarters perfectly either. He just wants me to start cutting them in half and go down. I always see others going real slow, but maybe they've just been on it longer?

This is just awful timing, with our vacation coming up in 2 weeks. I don't want to go backwards with this flare or get sick from tapering while I'm in another state! But I would like to minimize the side effects too!

It's gonna be a while before I can get a new GI. It's most likely going to have to be within that same group (only one my insurance covers). Which they give you TONS of crap for even ASKING to switch. I've known someone else that was denied switching from the same docctor I have. Then most are booked out for months to get in to see them. So it's gonna be a battle.

Yeah I told him about my concerns with tapering and going out of town. He still thought it was best to get me down to 20 this week, and then see how I do before my trip. That way he said if I started having flare symptoms again that I could just call and then he'd see about going back up to 40 for while I'm gone. He thought 20 would still work, and that way I wouldn't have side effects.

So I think I'm going to go down to 30 for this week. Not down to 20 in one week though. Then see how I am this week, and then go down to 20. Scary, because I don't want any problems while I'm gone. But hopefully 20 will still be a good enough of a dose to keep me okay.

That's true, and I'll have enough to bump myself back up to 40 mg if I need to on the trip. I talked to my pharmacist today when I picked up my prescription of pred (so that I won't run out while I"m gone). He started talking about my knowing that I'll need to taper, and I told him yes, that my doctor wants me to go down by 10 mg at first. He said that was pretty common. So that made me feel a little better.

Even if all I can get down to is the 30, guess that's better then 40 right? Ah, I so need this vacation after the month I'm having. LOL

I often take longer to taper down than the gi suggests and when i go back to see him and report what dosage im on he never objects ..

I also ask for some 2.5 mg pills to make the tapering as smooth as possible , i.e go from 20 to 17.5 for a few weeks and then to 15g etc etc

sometimes we can go from experience and not from what the text books or docs think is best , and i guess as long as you do taper down and dont stay at a constant dose then it is progress. Its not good to stay on pred for longer than needed but also not good to come off it too quick and relapse

Also ive noticed in the many times ive tapered down from a course of pred , that initially im fine reducing the dose but then it kicks back at me a week or so later and i have to either ride it out or sometimes go back on the last dose for another week or so and try again

another thing ive found is that when the dose gets down past 15-10mg i start to be aware of the side affects becoming much less and my body gets back to being mine again ! - in which case i take it even more slowly with the tapering .

Anyone else care to share their tapering experiences? Just wondering if anyone else has dropped their dosage to 30 mg from 40 mg, in a week, and how they reacted to it?

In the morning I'll go down to 30 mg, fingers crossed. If all goes well I may just go down to 25 mg the next week, and stay there until I get home from vacation. I may feel more comfortable with that then just dropping another 10 mg, down to 20. Once home I can go down to 20 mg, and of course get in to my primary doctor and see what kind of tapering he wants me to do from there (and battle to get a new GI). It's just so hard, if I didn't have this vacation planned I wouldn't be as worried. If I felt bad I could just stay home! But of course Crohn's doesn't care about your plans!!

I apologize if I'm being a pain! It's almost 2 am, and even though I took my pred at 8 am in the morning, I'm still awake!

That's good to hear sjkly! I guess I just need to play it by ear and see how I do. I very well may get to 20 mg before we leave on the trip. But I just may go down 5mg each to get there. Not sure, gotta see how I even do at 30 mg for this week! Guess it's a wait and see game!

My GI would never let me taper so quick. I have to taper each 2 weeks 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 7.5, 5, 2.5, then 0. I am currently on 6MP and 5mg pred and not doing too badly. I am really hoping I go well to 2.5 then 0 so I can have a break from the pred

Really it depends how bad you are! I am in your same boat (except for the fact that my doctor is great) and if I were YOU! I would go on vacation and stay on what you are at. But really it is YOU who has to make that decision. What I do is this: What is harder to live with right now, my Crohn's OR the temporary steroids side effects (which do suck a lot) But it is sorta like choosing your battle on this one. Never Fun! But go on your vacation with the confidence that you will make it and you made a good decision!

So much good luck to you!

LOVEPINK1010

Jen, with your sed rates that high-did they repeat them before having you taper-I would not taper at all until my sed rates were down. I think you 're right though you have to do this sanely-I tapered as quickly as I did because I did not flare again during the taper-my rhuemy had told me that if at any point I was in pain to go back to the previous level.
Go on vacation, relax, let the reduced stress help bring down your sed rates then think about tapering.
Oh and have fun on your trip.
Sj

Anytime I have been on Pred my reduction was usually down 5mg per week. I have never had any problems going down at that rate. Down 10 mg a week sounds really quick to me. JMHO

My daughter is at 35 mg now (started at 60 mg). She has UC and flared in March. (My son has Crohns so I check in here too.) Anyway, this is her 3rd flare and 3rd time on prednisone. Once she started lowering, she lowers by 5 mg per week. We check in with the doctor once a week to discuss how she is doing. He tried to have her lower from 50 to 40 mg but the side effects were too much for her so he changed it within 3 days to 45 mg. When she gets to 10 mg, she will probably go to 5 mg for a week and then every other day after that. Slow and steady. Unfortunately she has all the side effects (and they seem to get worse with each round of prednisone). It also seems that it takes longer for each round to start working. We are now looking into surgery for her.