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Pred taper- what to expect

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/19/2015 9:11 AM (GMT 0)
Hello all. I started on a prednisone taper a couple months ago at 40 mg for UC and have been decreasing my dose by 5 mg a week. I am currently on 10 mg and Monday I go down to 5. I have been both excited and nervous to taper off. I feel as though I haven't slept the entire time and only recently have been sleeping normally. I have terrible acne from the medicine and I've never had skin problems before. So I am ready to be prednisone free. Only thing is, I'm so scared to start feeling bad. The last few days I've felt kind of nauseated and prior to starting the prednisone I was taking zofran quite often for it. I'm just curious if anyone had any withdrawal effects from stopping the prednisone and what your results were like after stopping completely! I was in a flare for about 8 months and I'm hoping I'm in remission now but so scared all my symptoms will start reoccurring. Any advice, stories of experience will help! Thank you
Posted 7/19/2015 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
I never had any withdrawal symptoms from Prednoisine , quite the opposite was happy to get off it And have a good nights sleep
I have been on Prednoisine a lot over the past 3 years turn
Posted 7/19/2015 1:45 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Katie, I understand your concerns because nausea has been one of my new symptoms since last fall. I tapered off prednisone Jan-mid March of this year and my nausea returned. I talked with my doctor about it and he reminded me that steroids are used to treat nausea which is why mine returned. I work in anesthesia and we give decadron and zofran for nausea all the time and I had forgotten. I have done well since being off prednisone other than the continued nausea.

Btw-I agree with Dutchess...I always feel great on prednisone, no joint pain, great skin, etc.
Posted 7/19/2015 2:07 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, above all, prednisone is an anti-inflammatory. it makes all those little aches and pains, and other assorted issues disappear like they were never there. It is indeed a wonder drug. But the devil is lurking in the shadows !
Posted 7/19/2015 2:38 PM (GMT 0)
I just went from 10mg to 5mg last week. I had a little more nausea and felt verrrry tired for the first 3-4 days after the taper. I am staying at 5mg for an extra week because I feel my body quite isn't there yet to be completely off. Decreases of 2.5mg is also recommended.
Posted 7/19/2015 4:45 PM (GMT 0)
I am also tapering off pred. I'm down to 5 mg now but I am so tired! No amount of coffee is able to pick me up. I hope my system will adjust soon. No other side effects to report.
Posted 7/19/2015 6:02 PM (GMT 0)
I am also down to 5 mg and am SO tired. Rise and shine, little adrenals! Other than that I am not having any other symptoms- have you tried ginger tea for the nausea? That always helps mine! Good luck.
Posted 7/19/2015 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Katie, I have found personally that it is the last 10g taper that is the hardest. Like others have said, I would not jump from 10 to 5. When I tried that, I vomited for 3 days straight.

I do recommend "Adrenal Fatigue." Vitamin shoppe sells it. It will help your body produce cortisol naturally. Licorice tea also helps but go easy on it because it depletes potassium.

Hope you are feeling better soon.
Posted 7/20/2015 1:22 AM (GMT 0)
If prednisone withdrawl is hitting you (aches, fatigue, etc), then do smaller drops; some have dropped 1mgs at-a-time. Some have alternated dose day-to-day, say 5 one day, and 2.5 the next to try and wake the adrenal system back up. It sucks, but you're soon off prednisone at such low dosages.
Posted 7/20/2015 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
you taper so that you don't go through the withdrawal.

A few months ago I ran out of pred and thought that maybe I was done taking it since I ran out. I was at about 30mg at that point. I had horrible withdrawals, joint pain, whole body ached, depressing thoughts, anxiety. But, that was because I stopped taking it when I should have still been on it and tapering down.

I yo-yo'd with pred for many months as it seemed whenever I got under 15mg, my flare would come back. I'm down to taking 5mg every other day now and will take that for two more days...then I'm done with pred. The imuran seems to be working and I have felt good for about the last month now I'm real excited to get off prednisone. I never had too many noticeable side effects but was always worried about the long term side effects. In the past week and a half I have broke out a bit but I assume that is one of the side effects of taking way less now than I have been since January.
Posted 7/20/2015 1:29 AM (GMT 0)
if you have not introduced some med to keep away the inflammation, then you will very likely flare again very soon

what other meds are you taking?
Posted 7/21/2015 8:50 PM (GMT 0)
I take Apriso as well. I'm horribly nauseated today and idk if it is just random or if it is related to pred. I dealt with nausea a lot when I was first symptomatic and diagnosed. I have zofran for the nausea but it doesn't seem to fix it lately. Thanks for all your responses.
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