Tapering off prednisone

As a generalization 20 mgs to 10mgs is usually when a flare returns quite vividly during a taper. As with anything it can vary wildly person-to-person. With severe inflammation, I was unable to get below 20mgs. I've been stuck at 10mgs with more moderate/mild inflammation before too.

Everyone worries during a pred taper, myself included, even though we try not to. The bottom line is tapering can be uneventful or it can cause issues. In my mind, there's often no sense in delaying the inevitable, so I'd just do your drop and see what happens. There's no knowing ahead of time which course you will have.

The rate you taper pred is directly proportional to the length of time you've been on pred. In short courses, tapering by 5mgs or even 10mgs at-a-time is fine (say a couple months roughly). If you've been on pred for extended periods of time then 2.5mg drops or even 1mg are more common (say 6 months, a year, or more).

You generally want a fat-tail when tapering off of pred. Meaning, once you get below 10mgs, you start slowing down the rate. You use smaller drops to help awaken your adrenals and ease the withdrawal symptoms. As an example, you might go, 40mgs, 30mgs, 20mgs, 15mgs, 10mgs, 7.5mgs, 5mgs, 2.5mgs, 0mgs. 12-10mgs is when your adrenals are supposed to awaken, and that's why it goes slower around then. While our adrenals are adjusting during those sub 10mg drops, we experience withdrawal (aches, pains, fatigue, etc.). If you've only been on pred a couple months then that schedule would be a bit excessive. 4-5 months or more then you might want to follow a similar schedule...

So, going from 20mgs to 17.5mgs doesn't really help much. I wouldn't think. I'd wait until you get much, much lower before doing smaller drops.

My current taper started at 40mg for a month, 30mg for a month, 20mg for 2 weeks, 15mg for 2 weeks, 10mg for 2 weeks, 7.5mg for 2 weeks, 5mg for 2 weeks, 2.5mg for 2 weeks and starting Wednesday I'm hoping to be pred free.