Prednisone tapering for polymyalgia rheumatica

PMR tapers are long, frequently interrupted, and hard to hold in your head. That is the problem GentleTaper was built for.

Why PMR tapers are different

A short course of steroids is over before you need to keep track of it. A PMR taper is not like that. Mine ran from January to the end of November — just under a year. And that only counts the taper. I was ill for a long time before anyone put a name to it.

I never saw a rheumatologist. My GP wouldn't refer me — he said that if the steroids didn't work, he would. They worked. So I had a prescription and an instruction to taper off. In theory I could have gone back and asked him at every step. In practice, getting an appointment is hard enough that you don't. You work it out yourself.

I worked out my taper from the internet. I cut my pills into pieces with a cutter the pharmacist gave me, because the doses I needed to step down through don't come in a bottle.

That's the situation this was built in. Not a carefully supervised taper with a specialist checking the plan — one person, a prescription, and a real need to keep an accurate record, because nobody else was keeping one.

None of which is an argument for going it alone. If you have a rheumatologist, keep them. This is simply an acknowledgement that plenty of people don't have one, whether they chose that or not.

Keeping a record across months

A PMR taper can run for a year or longer. Over that time the details stop being things you remember and start being things you need written down: which week you came down, how long you stayed there, what the days in between were like.

By month eight, when did I last reduce? is a genuinely hard question — and it's exactly the kind of question that matters when you do get an appointment.

GentleTaper keeps the whole history in one place: every dose, every hold, every symptom check-in, on a single timeline.

Common questions

How long did your taper take?

Just under a year — January to the end of November. That's one person's taper, not a guideline. PMR tapers vary a great deal, and how long yours runs is a conversation for your doctor.

Can I use GentleTaper for conditions other than PMR?

Yes. It was built during a PMR taper, but it works for any corticosteroid taper you are following.

Will it remind me to take my dose?

Yes, notifications are available.