Prednisone Withdrawl Symptoms Dont Seem to be Improving.

Hi all,
I was on a relatively high dose of prednisone for about 2 months and tapered down for about 6 weeks. I finally got off the drug about a week ago, but im experiencing some terrible withdrawal that doesnt seem to be improving, if anything it may be worse.

I have terrible muscle stiffness that makes my daily walk/run very difficult and painful at times. Joint pain is bad after I've been still for some time. So getting out of bed or a chair is painful. I have no energy, part of that im sure is due to not sleeping well because my stiff muscles keep waking me up. And my anxiety is worse. Also, I gained about 25 pounds on prednisone, and I'm still gaining some even a week off of it. I watch what I eat and exercise almost daily, is it normal to not start losing the extra weight yet? And are the symptoms I'm experiencing still normal?

Few bits of info. Im 24 male and otherwise perfectly healthly. I've had three infusions of remicade. And when I reached 10mg of prednisone, I may have tapered too quickly, as I was decreasing by 2.5mg every 3 days untill off the medicine.

Any info is helpful, thanks!

@iPoop

I'd say about 3 1/2 months. I was on 40mg of prednisone for 2 months, then tapered about 5 mg every week more or less. When I reached 10mg, I started doing 2.5mg every 3 to 4 days.

Do I have to start back on the prednisone to wake up my adrenal glands? Will they not do it otherwise?

I understand. Hopefully things improve, but thank you for the info and advice!

Sounds like you tapered too fast. My husband was on steroids (still is) for much longer than you (years) and we have learned a lot about tapering. One thing I learned is that not all GIs are attuned to what is a proper taper, and it probably differs for everybody. We are seeing an endocrinologist now. Her view is that with a proper taper, you should never feel side effects, but it can take a long time.

My husband had to go back up to 10 mg (stopped having symptoms) and now he is tapering 1 mg every six weeks. I would doubt you need to be so drastic.

I would go back up to the level you felt o.k. at. Once you settle in, you may want to try 2.5mg for 5-7 days. If that doesn't feel right, then try 1 mg every 5 days days. If thee 2.5mg works, then once you get down to five, you may want to do a smaller taper. And at the end you may want to alternate days -- 2.5 mg / 1 mg etc., and then 1 mg / 0 mg etc. 3 days is probably too short.

If it ends up being a problem, an endocrinologist can help.

Good luck. The sooner you can get off the better, but no reason to make yourself sick.