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Is it normal to have Pred taper symptoms at very low doses?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/2/2013 12:11 AM (GMT 0)
I know everybody reacts differently to Prednisone (or any drug), and reactions are also dependent on how long you've been on the drug.  I'm at 6mg and just tapered to 5mg about 3 days ago and I started having withdrawal symptoms within a day which is very odd for me! Usually it takes a week for my body to even realize I tapered.  So I went back up to 6mg today and will do the every other day taper 6mg/5mg I guess for the next two weeks. Not what I wanted to do as I just want to get off of this but also don't want to feel like crap.

So I guess I was just wondering if anybody else experienced taper symptoms right up to the very last taper to 0?  I've been on this for over a year so I know my body is very used to the drug. I was sort of hoping once I got below 7mg I wouldn't have these taper symptoms. But I'm still having joint pain, tiredness, and my BMs even changed already 3 days after tapering. No blood though (but I don't get that often). Oh and I felt dizzy today before and after working out, that was a new one.

I've got my every other year colonoscopy next week so at least I'll be able to see if I really am still flaring of if these are truly just taper symptoms. I'm almost glad I have the test - not that I'd am looking forward to it (does anybody??) but it is the only real way to see what's going on in there!

Posted 7/2/2013 12:57 AM (GMT 0)
Most people don't realize that the withdrawal symptoms are actually worse at lower dosages. One reason is the percentage of the taper is usually higher at the lower doses. For example, tapering from 40 down to 30 is a 25% taper but tapering down from 10 to 5 is a 50% taper. Another reason is that your body manufactures about 8-12 mgs per day of cortisol when not taking prednisone. Everyone's body is slightly different in that regard. Once you start taking more prednisone than what your body naturally produces your adrenal glands shut down and no longer manufacture their own cortisol. When you begin tapering down to a lower dose than what your body naturally would produce you kind of go into an adrenal shock which is basically the withdrawal symptoms you feel as your body is forced to start manufacturing it's own cortisol again.
Posted 7/2/2013 1:02 AM (GMT 0)
Thats the part I don't understand. I have read that your body makes somewhere betwen 7 and 12mg of cortisol on its own. So I was well prepared for the taper below 7mg to be horrible. But once I got below that I figured it would be fine.

I tapered by 2.5mg every 2 weeks back in Oct/Nov and never had these symptoms once I was at 5mg. Now I'm tapering by 1mg every 2 weeks - or actually less than that if I do the every other day 6mg/5mg (which I've been doing).  And I am still having these taper symptoms!  It's getting very annoying. I am tapering slower than most people ever taper. 

I am going to start taking 5mg of DHEA this week, once my online order arrives. Hoping that may help a bit. I started taking tumeric (curcumin) tablets this week too.

Posted 7/2/2013 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
For me, sometimes my body just needs a few days to adjust to the new level. I do a very slow taper, too, although not a mg at a time (I'm breaking apart 10 mg pills, so 2.5 is about as small an adjustment as I can make).
Posted 7/2/2013 3:26 AM (GMT 0)
I just posted today about the return of symptoms one week into 2.5mg every other day. Blood and all! I've been on it for 15 months now. I can't really answer your question but I sympathize with you :)
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