Do you have steroids for arthritis?

You may have heard people with arthritis talk about what it was like to wean or taper off of prednisone. They describe varying degrees of withdrawal symptoms. For some, it was a nightmare.

It can be worse for people who took the drug for a long time or at a high dose. Prednisone is not a drug that can be stopped abruptly. It must be tapered gradually on a schedule determined by your doctor. Still, there may be withdrawal symptoms.

What has been your experience with discontinuing prednisone?

Doctors treating back pain incorrectly

According to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, more physicians are ignoring national guidelines from the American College of Physicians when treating patients with back pain. The group recommends the use of “use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs),” such as ibuprofen and aspirin, combined with physical therapy. However, the study says physicians are instead, “increasingly” prescribing patients with back pain “narcotic drugs, ordering expensive imaging tests or referring them to other physicians.” Furthermore, the study’s lead author, John Mafi, a chief medical resident at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, claims that the guidelines “caution against early imaging or other aggressive treatments, except in rare cases.”