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Is this Prednisone taper ok?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 3/9/2012 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
So I'm currently on prednisone for UC.

The script basically reads:
40mgs once a day for 2 weeks
20mgs once a day for 2 weeks
10mgs once a day for 2 weeks
10mgs every other day for 2 weeks

Just tapered this morning from 20mg to 10mg but am getting a bit concerned with whether the final taper is gradual enough to prevent the effects of withdrawal....
Posted 3/9/2012 4:54 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome to HealingWell. It sounds fast to me but I think any taper that works is "good". Some people do very well with a quick taper. It didn't work for me, my UC relapsed but you never know, maybe it will work for you. Goodluck.
Posted 3/9/2012 5:49 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks. :) I thought it sounded fast too, but until now I've never had to take Pred, just heard all the horror stories of it. I'm kind of afraid of relapsing at the moment and heard it can be common once on lower doses (10mg and under)...? Right now I'm fine, not bleeding at all, but I know it won't last. Apparently immunosuppressants are next...
Posted 3/9/2012 3:46 PM (GMT 0)
That sounds like a normal taper to me. You are basically cutting your dose in half every 2 weeks. If it makes you feel better, you could split your 10mg pills in half and take 5mg/day for 2 weeks.
Posted 3/9/2012 6:58 PM (GMT 0)
    My taper was generally: 40 mgm for 1 week with a 5 mgm per week taper.
Posted 3/9/2012 7:00 PM (GMT 0)
My taper is 5MG every 5-7 days depending on symptoms.
Posted 3/9/2012 10:52 PM (GMT 0)
My current taper is 5mg each week. When I started at a high dose, it went down by 10mg per week, up until i think 30mg. That is when it switched to 5mg. Once down to 10mg, we reduced it to 2.5mg taper depending on symptoms.
Posted 3/9/2012 11:20 PM (GMT 0)
Blujax, have you asked your doctor about this? My doctor gives me a prescription for 40mg for a month, not so that I'll take 40mg a day for a month but so that I'll have enough to taper with, and then he and I discuss the plan, usually over the phone, and the plan usually relates only tangentially to what it says on the bottle. I check in with him weekly until I'm in or nearing remission.
Posted 3/10/2012 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
I haven't asked my GI about it because it's incredibly hard to get ahold of him. I actually was prescribed the prednisone in the ER because my GI wasn't returning my calls, called urgent care but they refused to see me and transfered me to emergency. However, my GI was the one who wrote the script for the taper but I don't have another appointment with him until April 12th.
Posted 3/10/2012 5:33 AM (GMT 0)
I've always tapered down by 5mg/week and by the time I was down to 3 pills/week (15mg) my GI's would always instruct me to then cut a pill in half and go down from 3 pills for one week to 2.5 pills the next week, the 2 pills the following week until finally I was only taking half a pill for the last week....this has always been my experiance when tapering off of pred (starting at 8 pills--40mg--for the first 2 weeks on pred).
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