Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Prednisone

HI.

I was wondering what people's experiences are with a short taper of prednisone for a flare?

She is suggesting 30mg for 3 days, 20 for three days and 10 for 3 days. In people's experiences is this most likely to give temporary relief or help end a flare? I have been having horrible pain in my right foot and cannot walk at this point.

Thanks for any personal insight.

Hello, light:

When all else fails, I have turned to pred taper and it can really provide great relief while figuring out what went wrong.

We returned from Philippines and my wife developed severe RA symptoms that just could not be treated with a considerable arsenal of natural potions, so the taper was kind of a last resort. It worked long enough to allow us to find other ways to get a handle on the RA.

Sometimes, it is just necessary. I had to inject the Depo Medrol between my toes for gout when that dragon's tooth hatched out.

Short-term, the prednisone can be a great help. Good Luck with it,

HEALTH,
John

Thanks so much, John. Thanks for this and all the support through the years

I used to be on a continual low dose of prednisone but when my condition deteriorated I was told to increase my daily dose of the prednisone but only for a short time. Usually I would gradually wean myself of the prednisone but this time I was told to reduce back to the original low dose quickly. This seemed to work and my condition soon improved. Sorry this is some time ago and I don't remember the actual doses but I am sure you will get the general idea.

Thanks so much, Frederick. Any personal experiences are very helpful. I am still waiting to take it, as I had a slight chest cold and even though it is 95% better, I still have some tightness in my chest.

Hi I used prendinsona and works fine for me. I start with 40mgs to 10mgs but this in four weeks. no days. first week 40mgs. second 30mgs third 20mgs and finally in the last week 10mgs.

Just one month in the year. and my last prendinsona was on may-2016, and now I have no big pain o flare.
Only big rounds of sports, from one and a half hour of bike to two hours, intense!! 40Kms to 50kms. and I have feel much better.
sorry from my bad English
regards
Ariel

april 2011 (start with rheumy) through june 2013 (start of humira),

i was taking methylpredisone for my flares every 10-13 weeks...

since this was too often, we went to Humira.

While taking it, I took 4 mg pills, 6 on day 1 (2 at breakfast, 1 at lunch, 1 at dinner, 2 at bedtime), 5 on day 2, 4 on day 3, etc to 1 on day 6...occassionally I extended the last few days out to 10 days total.

I called them my "magic happy pills"...they immediately stopped the SI joint inflammation, pretty much all my enthesitis, and I was happy (mild depression is a flare symptom of mine, I discovered once I saw what methylpred and then humira did to my mood), full of energy, dry eye gone, mouth sores cleared up, etc.

So yes, for me, methylpred did exactly everything it was supposed to do, stopped my flare in its tracks. For a really bad flare, maybe not so perfect, but really amazing in general.

Now on Humira, I've had to take it maybe yearly for a flare. This past january, my neck flared terribly...I did a combo of Aleve, then Humira, then Aleve, then methylpred, then Aleve, then Humira, etc...instead of it being really bad for 3-6 months like before these meds, it was only really bad for 1 month and only took about 2 months to largely clear up.

I know steroids can make my diabetes and osteopenia worse, so I do use them with care.

But yes, glad that they are a tool in my toolbox.

Thanks everyone (so much!). I am about 35 hours into starting the first dose and not feeling much relief yet. Can it take awhile to start working?