10Yr old tapering Prednisone ?

[KCsMOM]

My 10 year old is currently taking Cellcept and Prednisone for Lupus Nephritis. Does anyone know approximate guidelines for tapering Prednisone at this age? I am very interested to hear from people diagnosed at a young age or family members of someone diagnosed at a young age regarding their initial dosage, how they were tapered, and how long it took. Thank you so much.

[applesauce]

I was on prednisone at that age as well...we had a really rough time getting me off it. It usually went something like ...

start at 50 mg
(month or two later) 25 mg
(month or 2 later) 15 mg
(month later) 10 mg
(2 weeks) 5
(1 week) 4
(1 week) 3
then I'd flare...and we'd start again. Sometimes we went from 10 - 9 - 8 etc, sometimes we didn't start so high, it's a tough drug to get off. I think I started with 2 infusions of 1000 mg each the FIRST time i was treated and probably was taking around 50 for quite a while. I was on 3 mg for a really long time too ;) That's wehre you can grow, so that's what they try to get you too. I think I was even on 1/2 mg for a while. I was on from the time i was 9 - 14 I believe.

Hope that was helpful!

[raggedyann1]

KCsMOM,

I didn't have lupus when I was young but decided to reply anyways. With adults they say not to cut more than 10% once you reach 20mg or so. When I get to 10 I have to go real, real slow to taper on down. I usually taper 1/2mg every 2-4 weeks. I do this by taking 10mg one day then 9mg the next alternating like that on down.

We had a recent discussion on steroid tapering and the steroid withdrawal that can mimic a disease flare-up except it only shows in fatigue and joint pain. They say to live through the pain and it will pass.

Another women here is having to taper even slower than I do. She started with 10/10/9 for so many weeks then 10/9 and so on. I would think a very slow taper if your child is having trouble will work. You could go even slower at the 10mg dose.

I don't know how fast the doctor has you tapering but sometimes it seems they taper too fast even at the higher doses. If I have been on prednisone at a higher dose for any length of time then I drop no faster than 5mg at a time.

Hope this helps,
Karen