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Prednisone Tapering Schedule That worked for You???

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 5/10/2013 4:44 AM (GMT 0)
Im hearing and seeing different tapering schedules. My Husband 's Doctor had him go down from 10 to 0. Originally on 40 mg for a month. Very bad withdrawal reaction. What my hubby's Dr says and what Ive been reading on standard protocol is totally different. (reason Im asking for experience rather than ass$%^& doctor!!!!

I understand length on the drug and amount of mg determines, but what helped you have less withdrawal side effects? 2.5 mg deduction a week?
5 mg a week?

Your personal experience would be very appreciated.
Posted 5/10/2013 5:28 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Butterscotchesmom, I didn't have a good reaction with the taper either. I was on it for about 10 months, the highest dose being 80mg in July 2012. After a couple months I started going down by 10mg every 2 weeks until I got to 40g. Then my doctor slowed it down to 5mg every 2 weeks. Every time I did the taper I had a horrible few days, sometimes even a week. The headaches were the worst... I was anxious, irritable, tired, and just felt all around awful. I went from 5mg every day straight down to zero because I had just moved and my new doc didn't know crap (I have a new doc now). But from what I've read, even that was too fast. I had horrendous joint pain and headaches and slept all the time. I still haven't fully recovered and it's been 3 months. But I was determined to get off and stay off the pred so I just kind of dealt with it. It's a really really hard drug to get off and I'm determined to not have to do it again. My old doc said the biggest prob from tapering too fast is the risk of a flare. I have read a lot of people on here who went down to 5mg or even 2.5mg and then 2.5mg every other day when they were having difficulty getting off completely. It helps your adrenals kick back in as they are supposed to. I hope your husband finds some relief!
Posted 5/10/2013 7:44 AM (GMT 0)
I was on 20mg for about 3 months, Doc has me going off 5mg every 4 weeks through 5mg, then we're supposed to discuss what to do from there.
Posted 5/10/2013 12:35 PM (GMT 0)
i started with 40mg and i was tapering 5mg a week. when i got down to 15mg i started a full on flaire again. they put me back up to 30mg and now im tappering 5mg every two weeks. im down to 10mg and seeing a bit of blood but the enemas im taking nightly should fix that. i cant wait to get off of it.
Posted 5/10/2013 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
Different drs give different tapering schedules for pred so you yeah are definitely going to see different answers to your question. Generally, you taper off of pred slowly. And the longer you've been on pred the slower you have to taper off of it. Generally, you drop your dosage by either 5mg or 10mg, once a week. The hardest part is getting off of the last 10-15mgs or so of pred. If you have 10mg tablets, you can cut them in half, or into quarters and ease yourself off of the last bit of pred. It really depends how you are responding. If you are starting to see symptoms return, then you certainly don't blindly march forward with your taper schedule -- worse thing you can do. That often means that either you are tapering too fast, or there are underlying uc inflammation issues that are not yet resolved (and getting off the pred too soon will just make you have an uc flareup which truly sucks). You should be in-touch with your GI throughout the tapering process and he/she will guide you through it should you encounter any bumps in the road while doing it.

Best of luck,
Posted 5/10/2013 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
My original taper was 10mg a week from 40mg to 0. Unfortunately, that didn't work out well for me because I couldn't taper off without having UC symptoms relapse. My problem wasn't withdrawal, although I had a lot of annoying side effects from the pred and from tapering pred. My biggest problem was definitely the flare up that would not subside. Eventually I faced the fact that i wasn't going to be able to taper without symptoms unless I started something else for maintenance. What is your husband using to daily maintenance of his UC? Most people with UC can't just take a course of pred and taper off like nothing ever happened without using drugs every day. Anyway, after my mishap with the 40 to 0 without success, I started 6mp and tapered much slowed. I went at 5mg a week after I was 100%. I was on 40mg for about 2 weeks. After 20mg, I went to 2.5 a week and when I got to ~10mg, I went at 1mg a week. I ended up being on pred for way longer than I would have liked but I've been in remission for about 2 years and I am thankful for that. What type of withdrawal symptoms is he having? I personally would prefer the withdrawal and getting off pred faster. The only reason to taper slower, in my opinion, is if you're having a relapse of your condition.
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