An intolerable cough as I decrease my intake of prednisolone
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hello,
I have polymyalgia, or at least that is what they say I have. The doctors never are absolutely certain, it seems. Anyway, it is more than likely the case that I do have it. That has been the assumption since I was diagnosed in the summer of 2012. I have a question. I will be starting on 5 mgs of Prednisolone tomorrow; I have been dropping 1 mg per month, but in the past two months I have been increasingly coughing a lot more. Is this my body telling me that I should increase my intake of Prednisolone? Something like this has happened before where I had a cold but I think my condition gave it legs such that it never seemed to go. It is a perpetual cold. Other than that, my body is pretty good. The condition was still affecting my lower body up until the summer of this year but since I started taking Ridate Once A Week and two special Yogarts a day, my lower body has been quite good. The cough is dogged. It will not go. The last time this happened, I increased my intake and it went. Is there any other way of getting rid of it without increasing my intake? It is becoming intolerable.
Thanks,
David.
0 likes, 6 replies
EileenH david37208
Posted
However - why not get your GP to check your peak flow. A constant cough or perpetual cold can be a sign of asthma and pred would improve that too. If it were that then an inhaled steroid would achieve the same result and only a very small amount reaches the blood. It would be worth a try anyway if the cough is so bad that you feel it is intolerable. My husband uses an inhaler even though it isn't really asthma that causes his cough but it does the trick. Inhaled steroids don't work immediately like the bronchdilators but take a week or two to achieve a good result. If you have had a cough for more than a few weeks then you should also be sent for a chest x-ray for safety's sake.
david37208 EileenH
Posted
Thanks for the response, Eileen.
EileenH david37208
Posted
david37208 EileenH
Posted
Would the signs of asthma not be there if I were on 10mgs of pred? It seems that the lower I go the more vulnerable I am to constant colds and coughs. Also, can one get asthma in their 60s?
Thanks for the response, Eileen.
EileenH david37208
Posted
Oral pred is commonly used to reduce the inflammation in asthma when an asthmatic already using a steroid inhaler gets a chest infection so it is all worse. The fact your symptoms return at a lower dose of pred might be an indicator.
There are also a few autoimmune disorders that present with adult-onset asthma. And acid reflux can also cause asthma. Higher doses of pred would probably soothe the inflammation, lower doses being less effective.
david37208 EileenH
Posted
Thanks for the response, Eileen. Have a great day!