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How long on prednisone before taper

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Posted 4/1/2009 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
I was on 20mg of prednisone for 2 weeks and then started to taper.  I made it to 10mg and symptoms came back.  The GI put me back on 20mg today. 

If you have been on prednisone how long were you on it before you started to taper?  Was 2 weeks not long enough?

Posted 4/1/2009 8:51 PM (GMT 0)
I was on 40mg for 6 months before I tapered

Posted 4/1/2009 8:55 PM (GMT 0)
Well tapering your prednisone really depends on what your doctor says. Did you ask him about tapering? If you just prescribed you 20mg of prednisone and said nothing about tapering then I wouldn't taper at all. I've been taking 20mg of prednisone everyday for 3 or 4 months now never tapering. My doctor just told me to up my dosage to 40mg for 1 week and then specifically said to taper back down to 20mg. So I assuming if your doctor never told you to taper, then you shouldn't taper.
Posted 4/1/2009 9:11 PM (GMT 0)
     Every flare I go through my doctor has me tapering differently each time.  One time I started at 20 mgm and he said to stay on 20 until he saw me three weeks later.  Another time he started me at 30 with a 10 mgm taper per week.  Yet another he started me at 40 with a 10 mgm per week taper.
Posted 4/1/2009 9:21 PM (GMT 0)
All GI's that I've had always put me on 40 for 2 weeks straight and then had me tappering 5mg each week after that until the last 2 weeks then they'd have me tapper 1/2 mg (like from 3 pills one week down to 2.5 pills a week then 2 pills a week until I was taking 1/2 pill for the last week, all GI's I've had experiane with had me tapper ever so slowly off pred...now even pred doesn't work for me anymore :( which sucks actually cuz I was never really prone to getting the horrid side effects from it, the worst was a bit of acne on my back.

:)
Posted 4/1/2009 9:46 PM (GMT 0)
It's very subjective and depends on how severe your symptoms are, how long you have been flaring for, and how you responded in the past to prednisone.

It also depends on your and your doctor's own preferences - mine wanted to get me off prednisone asap, and definitely would not have let me be on a course of prednisone for longer than 3 months at a stretch.

Some doctors seem to be fine with their patients being on prednisone for longer, but you then greatly increase the risk of getting some serious long-term side-effects.

My advice would be to taper slowly, and then at an even slower rate at lower doses - but try to get off prednisone as soon as you reasonably can.
Posted 4/1/2009 10:39 PM (GMT 0)

I've been on Prednisone for 5 months now, and am currently working on my second taper (the first one didn't take).  I was initially at 60 mg, and moving down to 40mg wasn't an issue. But the taper from 40mg is a little more tricky and I'm taking my time with it.  Things seems to be going great so far, but I'm being very careful. 

My symptoms were pretty severe so 2 weeks wouldn't have done anything for me.

Posted 4/1/2009 10:45 PM (GMT 0)
I think I mentioned in a thread you started yesterday that based on what my doctor said, I'm more inclined to believe that starting at 20mg wasn't high enough of an initial dose to really heal the inflammation rather than how quickly you tapered.
Posted 4/1/2009 11:35 PM (GMT 0)
Things were much better when I was on the 20mg. The last time I was on a higher dosage I couldn't handle the side effects. I am on 20mg for at least 4 weeks now. If it doesn't work this time I bet I will have to go to a higher dosage.
Posted 4/2/2009 1:51 PM (GMT 0)
I have been on a course of pred that has been different from many others here. My doc put me on 40mg for 4 days then right down to 20mg for 10 days then totally off with no taper down. I have already moved down to 20mg and felt ok, no side effects. I am nervous about dropping right off from 20 after 10 days. When I asked the doc he said that it was ok to drop off quickly because I have been on such a short course. However, I am thinking that at least I will take 10 for a few days before going off altogether......I dont really know. So anyhow, my taper or lack thereof is a strange one and my course is short and the doc says it is ok.
Posted 4/2/2009 3:22 PM (GMT 0)
Joma - Yes, I have also been told by many GI's that if you are only on pred for a short period of time - you do not need to taper.  Your adrenal glands will not have shut down in such a short space of time.

Posted 4/2/2009 3:50 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, so many different approaches.

I'll just weigh in and say that, like fruitgirl, I found 20 was helping but I couldn't get healed enough to taper without geting worse again. So I bumped up to 30 and am hoping staying at 25-30 for a couple weeks will get me healed enough to be able to taper back to 20 (where side effects subside) and slowly down from there. But this has been a particularly bad flare for me, so we'll see.

I am wondering, why not just taper down and not risk problems of dropping off?
Posted 4/2/2009 11:06 PM (GMT 0)
Hey Peety

Yeah, I may just taper a bit on my own for a couple of days despite what my GI says. I really dont want to flare again. However, in my case, the reason I wish to be off asap and the reason my GI wants me off sooner rather than later is because I am breastfeeding. The less my baby gets the happier I am - however, having a mom that is sick is no good either. I think I will see how my symptoms are the day I am supposed to stop - this coming Tuesday. jo
Posted 4/2/2009 11:32 PM (GMT 0)
Ah, I see. I hope it works out for you, then. You might be able to tell pretty quick.
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