Prednisone taper..

When I tapered I got very tired. That was really the big one for me. I know some people get headaches and more irritable/depressed/etc.

For me, the only noticeable side effect of tapering is that my flare symptoms sometimes get worse again. Last time I was on prednisone, every time I decreased the dosage, I had more bleeding. This time, it's more D. Sometimes the answer is to go back up to the prior dose for a while; sometimes the answer is patience because the body adjusts after a few days.

Also note that as your dosage gets lower, you'll taper 5 or 2.5 mg at a time rather than 10. Right now I'm on 2.5 mg and 5 mg on alternating days. Next week I'll take 2.5 mg each day; the week after 2.5 and 0 mg on alternating days and then hopefully I'll be off of it. I may be over cautious with this taper but I don't want to lose any ground.

I found that how well you taper off the Prednisone can depend on how long you were taking the higher dose. The longer the high dose the more you may have fatigue, headaches and nausea. Be prepared that you may not have a steady taper and you may have to go back up a dose if your symptoms return for a short period of time. I was on 40mg for 2 months and when I got down to 30mg I had such extreme nausea one night I vomited everything up for a few hours. I think I have a pretty sensitive tummy so this is not the norm. I went back up to 35 for 3 days and now I am back down to 30mg again and doing well. I eat smaller meals every 2 hours and keep unsalted saltines nearby to keep a little something in my stomach.

Good luck to you!

Ah now I'm scared to taper 10mg down. But being I was only on 40 for just 3 weeks I'm hoping I'll do ok.

Slower is definitely better but everyone tolerates differently. I must say that every taper I've done my side effects have been different. First time all I had was night sweats, every time after that it was different not always the same things. Good luck with your taper, if things start getting worse I'd suggest going back up to 40mg and then taper slower.

I am currently tapering at 5mg every 2 weeks, although I drop 2.5mg for 4 days then do the full 5mg drop for the week. I do this because I've had such a hard time tapering this last time.

I was on 40mg for two weeks in January. When I tapered to 35mg I had night sweats, nightmares, couldn't sleep and also had joint points in my knees, feet and hands. I also had an increase in my BM's but did not have any bleeding come back. I'm down to 20mg now, tapering to 15mg tomorrow (which I heard is the worst taper).

The taper effects only seemed to last about 2-3 days for me, then it seemed to even itself out again after my body got used to the new dose.

I think I had the slowest taper ever, from 60 mg last June to 1 mg, and finally off in January. I ditto the slow taper approach. Every time I tapered to a lower dosage, I noticed some symptoms, even if it was only tapered by .5 mg.

Now that I'm off, I have night sweats, some depression, and while I was tapering from about 15 mg., I lost a lot of hair. Overall, though, the pred course really helped me acheive most of my life back.

When I was at higher doses (15 and above), I split the dose between breakfast and lunch, not to get that full shot all at once. Like 10 mg with breakfast, then 5 at lunch, etc.