My Journey of PMR
Posted , 9 users are following.
Hi Everyone
I have now been on Prednisone for about 7 weeks starting at 20 megs, which did not relieve all off my pain so Doc increased dose to 30 megs.in which completely levelled my pain to zero. When Pred.got increased the Doc. said to take 15 megs. in morning 7:30 and 15 megs. at night 7:30. Did this for about four weeks,back to the the Doc. and he said to reduce by 5 megs. Which I did , 10 in morn. 15 at night, also to my surprise worked well with no noticeable change felt really good still.
Back to the Doc.with CRP blood work tested at .4 my high was at 31 when I was first diagnosed with PMR Doc suggests to drop 2.5 megs. in about a weeks time.
Did so on Feb. 6 12.5 mg. in morn. 10 at night , once again seems to be working just fine.
My question to everyone is that reading this blog it seems most people seem to take their dose of Preds all at once. I was just wondering if anyone else does this spit dosage system.
Also from reading this blog which I find most helpful and informative it seems my reduction schedule has been quite quick, having been diagnosed in early December started Preds. Dec. 15 at the 30 mg dose and now at 22.5.
Thanks to you all !! And Patient for having this blog to be able have this communication with fellow sufferers
1 like, 18 replies
jean39702 Magilla53
Posted
Hi Magilla. As others have said, it's really a personal need and decision. However, since I also started on a split dose about 3 years ago I thought I would share my experience. I think the initial decision of the practitioner to recommend a split dose was because I was started at 40 mg. I can't recall exactly when, but I think it was when I reached 25 or 30 I was adviced to take in one dose in the morning.
However, I ended up splitting it again for a while at about 17 mg to reduce the brain fog I was suffering. It helped until I got to a lower dose. Following a flare last April, due to foolishness on my part, I went from 10.5 mg back to 15 mg and have been taking the full dose once a day ever since.
TheRaven Magilla53
Posted
Hi Magilla
I started on Pred 7+ months ago at 20 mg in the morning and it worked perfectly. I was dropped to 15 after a couple weeks and that went well. After a week or 2 I caught a cold and the PMR flared bigtime for me. I was put back to 20 mg but it was no longer effective for 24 hours - the pain would hit me about 3-4 in the morning and last until the morning Pred dose took effect. Without detailing the whole rollercoaster ride it comes down to taking a split dose as the only way I can stay pain free for the full 24 hours. I actually lost a lot of ground in the last 2 months and now am at 30 mg, split 20 mg morning and 10 mg evening. Everything seems great except for some inflammation still in the toes. This Friday I reduce to 15 mg morning and 10 mg evening. Hoping that goes well but have learned that this is a ride that requires lots of patience and dealing with setbacks.
On a side note, I recently saw my GP for the annual renewal of my blood pressure prescriptions that I've been on forever. An unexpected surprise was the standard blood tests showed that I was suddenly in the "pre-diabetic" range for blood sugar with a count of 134! I guess that's one side effect of Pred I hadn't counted on. I'm hoping that getting down soon to a lower level of Pred will help keep the blood sugar numbers from raising along with watching the diet a bit.