For those who experienced pred tapering syptoms..

Hy ladies and gentlmen.. I started my pred at 40mg. Things were quite stable until i reached to 15mg..i lower 5mg after every week.again now loose stools and multiple bm's.. I just wanted to ask how u helped yourself at this stage.

Naina, what you describe is known as a prednisone-dependency at 15mgs which means you need at least that dosage of pred in order to maintain your current uc symptoms. Most certainly, you don't want to remain on pred over the longterm (which is risky). So, you need to either add another medicine or increase the dosage of your current medication before you can kick pred.

- What is your current dosage of Pentasa? Most oral meslamine-based medications are prescribed in up to 5,000 mg per day dosages. If you are taking less than 5,000 mgs per day then ask your GI for a higher dosage prescription.

-Have you considered some sort of rectal meslamine (cansa suppositories or Rowasa enemas)? They could be enough to get you off of the dreaded pred. Ask your GI about what rectal meds are available in your area and get a prescription for one.

I second WriterGirl's thoughts: you could try slowing down the taper (instead of 5mg drops do only 2.5mgs at a time). There is certainly no such thing as tapering too slowly off of pred. However, you taper too quickly oh boy will pred bite you back very hard.