5 day 50 mg dose of Prednisone. Safe?

Hi Everyone,

I've been battling with loose stool, diarrhea, and abdominal pain for almost a year now. Early on I had a number of tests (colonoscopy, barium swallow, CT scan, etc) and other than "puss cells" being found in my stool sample, and testing positive for HLA-B27... doctors couldn't find a diagnosis for me.

A specialist in Vancouver has asked that I have tests for cortisol levels (possible Addisons Disease) and test for Lyme Disease. I haven't had those tests done yet because I'm currently on vacation in beautiful Hawaii.

Of course my symptoms have become much worse during this trip. Ontop of daily loose stools/diarreah, and abdominal pain I now have severe stabbing pain in my rectum during and following my bowel movements. So I went to a walk-in clinic here in Hawaii. The doctor listened to my story and told me he was certain that I have some form of Inflamatory Bowel Disease.

In order to "patch me up" for the rest of my trip, he's prescribed a 5-day dose of 50 mg of prednisone. I'm feeling horrible, but I'm terrified of this drug, and of the way it's been prescribed. Is just 5 days of this safe? What will happen if there's no tapering? Is it even worth taking?

Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Michelle

My GI happened to mention this exact thing the other day. She advised that you can do 5 days at a high dose with no tapering. After 5 days though - you're kinda sunk though. She said anything longer than 5 days needs to be tapered down.
She was speaking in reference to treating something very specific - however I can't recall what it was - sorry.
I hope it does the trick for you.

I know for some things, like bronchitis, you do a week-long pred pack. I think even those taper, though. It's like 40mg on day 1, 35 on 2, etc.

Hi Michelle,
The latest studies on Prednisone indicate that anything up to 60mg for up to two weeks does not cause any adrenal suppression, and so does not require any taper. Your specialist is correct.
good luck!

Hey Michelle,

Handle is spot on! Perfectly safe to take the Pred the way the specialist has prescribed.

Dusty. xxx

I was given 75mg for a 3 days after getting told i had erythema nodosum, didn't notice any problems from the high dose at all. GI wasn't amused when she rang and I told her though lol(a hospital doctor prescribed the high dose).