Author: James Anderson

Prednisone Taper: How to Stop Slowly and Safely

For example, instead of lowering the dose from, say, 4 mg to 3 mg, a healthcare provider may prescribe 4 mg one day and 3 mg the next day, alternating back and forth for one week. Contact your healthcare provider if you have any symptoms, and they may adjust your prednisone taper. That is, prednisone withdrawal doesn’t cause you to crave prednisone. Still, it does affect your body physically, and it can disrupt several of your body’s functions. When you stop taking prednisone, your body needs just as much time to readjust its cortisol production.

Why Prednisone Tapering Is Necessary

Less often, joint pain, skin changes, muscle aches, fever, mental changes, or elevations of calcium may be noted. A decrease in gastrointestinal contractions can occur, leading to dilation of the intestine (ileus). However, this can change when prednisone is in your body for 3 weeks or longer.

Understanding Prednisone Withdrawal Syndrome

If your symptoms are severe or last longer than seven days, call your healthcare provider, who can adjust the dose and tapering schedule. A prednisone taper gradually reduces your corticosteroid dose over days, weeks, or months to prevent prednisone withdrawal. Stopping prednisone abruptly can lead to adrenal insufficiency, which causes severe fatigue, body aches, and nausea.

However, it is important to do this under the guidance of a doctor. A doctor will provide a person with specific instructions on how to stop taking the medication. However, according to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), when a person takes prednisone for longer than a few weeks, the body will reduce the amount of cortisol it makes. Prednisone is a glucocorticoid — a type of corticosteroid — that doctors prescribe to treat swelling and inflammation.

1. Prednisone Withdrawal Syndrome often brings uncomfortable symptoms, making it difficult for some to stop taking the medication.
2. The doctor will give you a schedule to gradually lower your dose.
3. There’s no specific time frame for tapering that’ll work for everyone.
4. The doctor may adjust the taper schedule and recommend ways to manage the withdrawal symptoms.
5. Since cortisone is involved in maintaining normal levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood, long-term use may lead to elevated blood sugar or even diabetes.

When the steroids are absolutely necessary, sometimes another medication can be added to help with the mood problem. Rapid withdrawal of steroids may cause a syndrome that could include fatigue, joint pain, muscle stiffness, muscle tenderness, or fever. These symptoms could be hard to separate from those of your underlying disease. Even with slower withdrawal of steroids, some of these symptoms are possible, but usually in milder forms.

Supplementation may be needed during periods of stress, even up to a year after discontinuing corticosteroid therapy. Your adrenal glands produce steroid hormones, including glucocorticoids (such as cortisol) that help regulate the inflammatory response inside your body. Prednisone is a synthetic type of glucocorticoid, which provides an even more powerful anti-inflammatory response than cortisol when you experience a severe inflammatory event. Doctors prescribe prednisone for a wide range of medical conditions, from a severe allergic reaction to a chronic autoimmune disorder. If you taper corticosteroids as your doctor prescribes, you shouldn’t have a flare or experience severe prednisone withdrawal symptoms.

Prednisone withdrawal: Why do I need to slowly taper down the dosage?

It relieves swelling, itching, and inflammation by suppressing the immune system. While PWS may not be entirely avoidable, especially if you’ve taken prednisone for an extended period of time, some strategies can help you manage any discomfort you experience. This article walks you through what a prednisone tapering schedule might look like and lists alternatives to prednisone that you may be switched to.

Prednisone withdrawal: Why taper down slowly?

They’ll watch you carefully and adjust your prednisone taper dose if needed. Symptoms are typically self-limiting and will resolve with time. People will recover from prednisone withdrawal once their body begins producing enough cortisol again. When a person first starts decreasing the amount of prednisone, they may experience aching or tiredness. However, they should contact a doctor if these symptoms do not resolve over 7 days. In this article, learn the withdrawal symptoms of prednisone, why they happen, and how to prevent them.

Which types of specialists treat steroid withdrawal symptoms?

If that’s successful, you may be prescribed 4 mg one day and 2 mg the next, and so on, until you are eventually alternating between 4 mg one day and no dose the next. The healthcare provider would then gradually taper the 4-mg dose. One way to deal with this is with a technique called alternate-day tapering.

Prednisone: What to Know About Withdrawal Symptoms

If you or a loved one is experiencing withdrawal effects, see an addiction specialist or mental health professional. Proper care and treatment can ease the withdrawal process and make it easier to maintain sobriety from steroids. Treatment for prednisone withdrawal focuses on managing the symptoms and controlling the body’s cortisol production.