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Dexamethasone taper: how did you do it?

AlexBR
AlexBR CSN Member Posts: 1
in Brain Cancer #1

My father was diagnosed with a very small brain tumor, but with a big swelling so the doctor put him on Dexamethasone (8mg daily: 4mg in the morning, 4mg in the afternoon) in order to reduce that swelling.

After a couple of months he was doing pretty fine, until the tapering process started.
The doctor said we should go from 8mg to 4mg for a week, then 2mg for a week and then stop. 

Just a few days after cutting to 4mg, he hit rock bottom: his left arm and leg lost almost all movements, he can't speak at all, he got seizures twice (the second time it was very strong), he can't eat and sleeps 15-20 hours/day.

We immediately brought him back to 8mg and he got a little better for 2 days, then, rock bottom again.

Now we're tapering in this scheme:

8mg (4mg twice a day) for 7 days
6mg (2mg 3x a day) for 7 days (he's in this phase now)
4mg (2mg at morning, 1mg at afternoon, 1mg at night)
2mg (at morning) for 7 days
2mg (at morning) every other day for 8 days
1mg (at morning) every other day for 8 days

then stop.

He's suffering so much these days. It breaks my heart to see such an independent man, that at age of 80 would do anything by himself, now, can't even stand up alone.

How did you guys/girls taper the Dexamethasone? How long did it take to start seeing any improvements?

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  • Kathy03222
    Kathy03222 CSN Member Posts: 6
    #2
    Hi sorry rough going

     I'm not sure about my whole dexamethasone taper because a lot of it I was out of it in the hospital the only part I remember is the 21 mg in the morning to 1 mg at night we did that for like two weeks and eventually tape it off until I only took 2 mg in the morning and then at night it's been about a week now and I think it's finally out of my system 

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