Coming Off Steroids

muffy

Hi All, I have been on Steroids for a while and told to reduce the dosage this coming week to come off them, my question is how to reduce them, at present the dose is 7.1/2 mg, the only way I can do it is to reduce to 5mg then 2.1/2mg, is it ok to reduce over two days or should I take 5mg for a couple of days then 2.1/2 for a couple of days?
Sylvia

Colin1

Hello Muffy I assume its Prednisolone your talking about
Your on seven and half now and need to come Down. Pred are difficult to reduce and can have an effect on you as the Pred can replace the Adrenalin
in your body, it can also make you Adrenalin gland lazy as you get the Adrenalin by Meds rather than your body making it. You should talk to your GP or Rheumy nurse about reducing. I have come down from 25mg to 10mg and its taken me 2 years. my body struggles to get lower but as soon as i am back on the Rituximab i will start reducing again.
You need to ask you GP for 1mg and 5mg tablets and reduce 1mg every four weeks. when you get to five just star on the 1s and reduce. I dont know how long you have been on them. if its not long perhaps you can reduce quicker but i would talk to GP.
Colin

dreamdaisy

Hello muffy, I too was on oral steroids, I began them in February 07 and devoted the whole of 2011 to coming off them. I started in the January at a dose of 15mg per day, but then reduced every three weeks or so, initially by 2.5 mgs but then as the dose became smaller I altered that to 1 or 1.5 reduction. I had 2.5 and 5mg tablets then added the 1mg tablets into the mix to help me do that.

Steroid withdrawal has to be steady, especially if one has been on them for some time. It is true that the body becomes lazy at producing its own version, so the steady and paced reduction does nudge it back into production! It is a time-consuming process but, for the sake of one's overall future health, it must be done if possible. Don't rush it - and don't let your GP etc rush you either. I don't think it is a matter of doing it in days, especially if you have been taking them for some time. Good luck with it and I wish you well. DD

salamander

Hi Muffy, I've been on steroids for nearly three years and have gone up and down on them so many times but over a much longer time period than you are suggesting. I think you should go back to your medics/nurse and get instructions on how they want you to reduce. Am surprised they haven't told you already to be honest. If you drop down too quickly it can be dangerous I'm told.

As DD says, you can get 1mg tablets. I never reduce more than 1mg a week.

tillytop

Hello Muffy

I'm with the others on this - you definitely have to be careful about cutting down too quickly. I have been on oral pred for many years and when I reduce I go down very slowly. Recently advice from my rheumatologist was to reduce by 1mg every 3 weeks but in the past, when I have got down to lower doses, the reduction has been as slow as 1mg every 3 months. It is definitely something to take advice on though. I also find that whenever I reduce, even if I only reduce half a mg I really notice the difference as my RA seems to "fight back". Then, usually after a couple of days things settle again and I know how I am really going to be on the lower dose.

Good luck with the reduction though Muffy.

Tillyxxx