Prednisone achiness?

I feel like I've been hit by a truck. Every muscle and tendon is aching.
When I was previously on prednisone, I didn't have any pain at all when tapering off, but I was on it for 8 months vs. this time - 28 months.
It started about 6 weeks ago, when the dose got down to 2.5 mg. Now I'm at 2.5/0 alternating days.

I had been thinking it was due to a change in my thyroid medicine, because this is typical for me when that's too low. But now I'm not so sure.
Is this more likely prednisone pain? If you were me, what would be your next dose stepping down? One mg per day perhaps?

Janet:

It sounds like typical Prednisone withdrawal, but if you've had this with your thyroid meds being off, it could also be that.

Going through withdrawal can be horrible and it seemed like every time I did it, it was worse than the last time. You could try going down to 1 mg per day but this is the hardest part. It can last a few weeks or months after you are totally off of the drug.

Janet I'm also tapering prednisolone at the moment. I've hated every minute of taking it . I started on 45mg a day 18 months ago once below 15mg a day any drop in dose has floored me for at least a week following the reduction. After 7months on 5mg a day I finally started on Romiplostim.
The following week I started a taper of 1mg/day every 4th week.
Going down to 4mg a day was absolutely fine apart from feeling a bit 'wooly'.
So 4 weeks later down to 3mg a day and within 3 days the truck hit.
Back up to 3mg/4mg on alternate days which was tolerable.

Went to see GP who devised a gentle reduction plan of roughly 0.3mg a week. For the next couple of months
Anne

I too feel it is how quick/slow a taper one does.
I was a real *itch while on prednisone (know some of you just won't believe that ) - but I honestly had no physical problems tapering because I did it so darn slow.

Good luck Janet & Anne!

Thanks everybody. It helps to have other experiences to relate to.
At this point, I\'m leaning more toward the taper than my thyroid to explain the pain. But one can never be sure, right?

Count is still all over the map...
8, 181, 112, 39. Hoping things will be better once I\'m done with the pred and just on NPlate. Seems like it will be forever.

For me alternating 2.5/0 would have been too fast. My symptoms when I tapered too fast were fluish feeling, body aches, muscles and joint aches and pains. I recall an 88 year old woman had to help me open a jar because my hands were so stiff and painful. Also fatigue and tiredness- could hardly stay awake. I knew my adrenals were kicking in when I could make it through the day without taking a nap.

I totally believe in alternating doses each day then staying on the new dose for a week- that really worked for me. I dropped by .5mg. Example 2.5/2 alternating for a week, then 2mg for a week. Its important to give your adrenals time to wake up and smell the coffee. Also they can be atrophied so have to "fluff up" again. It takes time- poor little things! When my adrenals starting working again I felt a sense of well-being and a feeling of calm alertness. So so nice after years of prednisone nervous energy. good luck!

poseymint wrote: For me alternating 2.5/0 would have been too fast.

Well, it's a moot point now. Doc raised it to 2.5/1, because he felt the last count of 39 predicted a lower dip ahead.
~sigh~
Thanks, Posey.

Hi midwest

I'm stuck on Pred too! I felt so much better when I got to 5mg. Aching joints and muscles were present going down from 10mg. Everyone is different. Unfortunately my haematologist said my counts were not steroid dependent now and to come off quickly (by 2.5mg). It was a mistake because my count fell dramatically, so it was dependent and has had to be put up to 10...now 8mg and sticking here over the holiday season.
I wish my Dr had taken it slow and anticipated a dip. So hopefully you will have a better outcome.
Good luck

I'm down to 2,3,3, for a 10 days from today. The achiness has completely disappeared, brain fog substantially reduced but still very tired.