Xeljanz dosage

i am suppose to reduce mine from 10mg twice daily to the the 5mg after the end of this week, being my first month. Very hesitant to do so. The dosing on this drug, due to it being so new to the UC world is guessing at best from what I can see.

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2017- January-diagnosed distal colitis
2017-March hospitalized for pan colitis
Currently on remicade
Started Xeljanz 9/19

My husband has been on Xeljanz almot 3-1/2 years -- full remission. 20 mg / day. This year his doctor told him he should try to taper down to 10 mg due to the reports about thrombosis side effects. He was on 15 mg for about 5 weeks when symptoms seemed to come back for first time since he went on Xeljanz. So he went immediately back up to 20 mg and after about 7-10 days symptoms are fully gone. So he is very reluctant to try to go down again. Doc said maybe they would try again next spring.

the medical community has no idea. He is not high risk otherwise for thrombosis, and it has been a great drug for him.

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Spouse diagnosed with UC in 2013. Remicade, humira, Entyvio did not work. Only thing that worked was prednisone. March 2016 started Xeljanz. In remission within 2 months. Worked with endocrinologist to get off prednisone, and neurologist to deal with neuropathy in feet that appeared with prednisone taper. Took over a year to completely get off steroids -- tapered .5 mg every 4 weeks.

I am hoping reducing to 5 mg won't cause a problem. I have been experiencing joint pain as a side effect, and I'm hoping that going down to 5 mg will help with the pain and also manage the disease adequately enough. It's a wait and see situation right now. I am working through the pain, but it hasn't been easy. Have others experienced any joint or muscle pain, stiffness??

I tried to go down to 5mgs 2 X a day and my symptoms started coming back . I also noticed the joint pain on the lower dosage. I went back up to 10 Mgs 2 X a day and my symptoms subsided. For me the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks.

The joint pain started almost immediately but I didn't make a connection right away. I would say it took about a month and a half for the symptoms to start creeping back in.