prednisone taper schedule?

Hi. The doc put me on 20 mg prednisone 1/9. Then upped it to 30 mg on 1/13. The 30 mg worked! I dropped down to 25 mg on 1/24 and she wants me to go down 5 mg every 7 days. This makes sense, but yesterday I got a cold sore under my nose! I've only had a cold sore once in my life before. It sucks! I have an interview on Friday! The nurse said it's probably from the prednisone- not to mention all of the other side effects. I want to decrease the amount every 5 or 6 days instead of every 7 to get off this c**p sooner, but don't want to relapse! It took me to long to get it under control (5 mos). Anyway, I was wondering what your docs suggest to taper the prednisone. I'm also on 2 Lialda/day, but am not convinced that does anything.

I taper even slower due to seroid dependence. I know how horrible it is (been on for over a year now) but taking it slow will help keep you from relapsing. Patience is hard but worth not flaring.

Same here. Started at 20 mg for about two weeks, and am now at 15 mg. My doctor has me calling him weekly with the plan to taper by 5 mg each week. Sorry to hear you're having irritating side effects. The brain fog is driving me crazy! I feel like a real idiot at work lately. Best of luck with the interview. :)

It's strange how some docs prescribe prednisone...I've had 4 GI's in all my yrs of dealing with IBD and everyone of them always started me on 40mg for 2 weeks and then tappering 5mg/week after that....anything lower than 40mg to start usually doesn't make any difference with improving symptoms which is why all of mine have always started me on 40 and for a good 2 weeks before tappering.

:)

Used to work, now pred has no effect on me.

:)

5mg every 7-10 days here. It works fine for me with no troubles.
From 15 to 10mg was is the worse jump for me.