What is lowest effective dosage of Predisone?

Hello, I was prescribed predisone on Wednesday for a UC flare, 7 days each on 40mg, 30mg, 20mg, and 10mg. Fearing weight gain and moon face I decided not to take it but now I am desperate enough to consider it. I would be very greatfull for any insight on lower doses that have been effective. I have seen improvement in my symptoms improve and my worsening condition was brought on by a bad reaction to Flagyl. I am hoping that with the new dosage of Flagyl I will see enough improvement to forgo the Predisone. If not I am considering trying 4 days instead of 7 on the different doses of it. Any input appreciated.

I'm on 20 mg a day now. It's the only drug that gives me relieve of inflammation

Did you start on 20mg? How long are you taking it for? Have you gained weight or gotten moon face?

I didn't notice moonface or significant weight gain until over a month on doses at and/or over 40mg (I'm 105lbs). I gained 20 pounds when I was on 60mg for 6 months. All my side effects started to diminish at 20 mgs. I lost 12 pounds of weight in less than one month under 20 mgs. But having said that, I don't care how big my moonfaced or apple belly was when I was flaring terribly. Vanity goes out the window when necessity kicks in. I could not have lived without the high doses of Pred.

I can tell you that limiting salt intake and drinking LOTS of water will help stave off a good amount of the physically obvious effects. I learned that my second go round with Pred and gained only a small amount of weight. And only eat when it LOGICALLY makes sense that you are hungry. On Pred, your body tells you CONSTANTLY that you need to eat but you truly don't.

Remember, your GI health is way more important than what you look like on the outside! The faster you knock down your flare, the faster you can feel better inside AND out.


Edited to add: your doctor prescribed you those amounts for a reason. And from experience, they don't look like anything out of the ordinary. Prednisone needs to be take as directed.

Another idea I have is to skip right to 20mgs. The thing is that I am feeling improved as far as my UC symptoms and am not quite desperate enough to risk any Predisone side effects.

But you could feel better even though there is active inflammation in your large intestine which in turn will cause bigger problems.

Believe me, I tried to "treat" myself in the past for vanities sake and it did me way more harm than good. It ended me up in the hospital and way worse than I was had I taken what was prescribed. YOu might be happy to know that Pred does not effect everyone the same way. I've read MANY people on this site who say they've never experienced moon face OR weight gain.

Plus, an MD knows better than us laymen...after all, they did go to school for this.

Doctors are people and make mistakes. Such prescribing me more Flagyl then I could tolerate. It's because every person is different and having never taken Predisone and I would like to know what the least aggressive dose is and start there. It's impossible to to change a Doctor's mind and this my choice to make.

I've had skin rashes, and an itchy butt, both like a mofo and Prednisone did the trick for me. I would highly recommend it as quality of life is much more important than the concern about how attractive we are to others. And that's coming from some who would jokingly call me pretty boy. Really, without our health, what good is life? Take the meds, heal and be yourself.

cmichael said:

I've had skin rashes, and an itchy butt, both like a mofo and Prednisone did the trick for me. I would highly recommend it as quality of life is much more important than the concern about how attractive we are to others. And that's coming from some who would jokingly call me pretty boy. Really, without our health, what good is life? Take the meds, heal and be yourself.

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How much did you take and for how long? Did you have any wieght gain or moon face?

I'm not a medical professional, but if you haven't taken it before, a lower dose may do the trick for you. If your symptoms aren't very severe and your doctor doesn't INSIST on you starting at 40 mg, I don't see why starting at 30 or 20 would do any harm. Besides, if the lower dose doesn't do the trick.. you can always up it to 40 as originally planned. I only got the side effects of weight gain and/or moon face on doses or 40 or higher, and for extended periods of time.

Avw said:

Besides, if the lower dose doesn't do the trick.. you can always up it to 40 as originally planned.

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The problem with that is you'll likely have to take steroids for longer than 7 days if it doesn't work on the lower dose. I'd go with the 7 days and be done with it personally (coming from someone who had to keep upping the dosage of Prednisone because the dosage wasn't aggressive enough to begin with).

Crabby said:

The problem with that is you'll likely have to take steroids for longer than 7 days if it doesn't work on the lower dose. I'd go with the 7 days and be done with it personally (coming from someone who had to keep upping the dosage of Prednisone because the dosage wasn't aggressive enough to begin with).

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I have to take 40 for 7 days, 30 for 7, 20 for 7, and 10 for 7. If it was for 2 weeks or less I would be more willing to listen to the doctor. So if anyone could give me an example of a shorter and lower effective dose that would be great!

Sorry about that, I misread your post. I still stand by response in your other thread though. Personally I don't want to suggest any lower dose etc because I fear you may self medicate. Everyone is different so if someone does suggest a shorter course at a lower dosage that worked for them don't assume it will work for you as well.

Didn't read the other posts but here is something to think about. The reason they do a high dosage then taper is to quickly attack your flare. If you take a smaller dose you might be on it for longer than if you would have gone with the higher dose to being with. But they say that 20mg is the dose where you feel symptoms if you go below, but everyone is different.

Thermo said:

Didn't read the other posts but here is something to think about. The reason they do a high dosage then taper is to quickly attack your flare. If you take a smaller dose you might be on it for longer than if you would have gone with the higher dose to being with. But they say that 20mg is the dose where you feel symptoms if you go below, but everyone is different.

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So for you at 20mg and above you had side effects?

Sorry I read that post wrong (Long day) I get side effects on any dosage of steroids. But 20mg is not really that bad. Anything above like you said will always produce heavy side effects. Even 5 mg gives me side effects now a days, I think the body starts to dislike steroids the more you use them, or at least mine does.

They have me on 20 for 5 days then 15 for 5 days then 10 for 5 days and 5 for 5 days. I haven't had any of the side affects such as moon face or weight gain. Then again I'm not a big fan of crapping anymore so it's lots of soup for me. They tried me on that new one that supposed to attack crohns alone, but it wasn't working so I'm on both. Hopefully since the pred will be done way before the other it will kick in and do the job. So far I feel good,almost normal.....except the pain from my fistula and when I have to use the crapper.

I finally got desperate enough to just listen to my doctor. I took my first dose of 40mg today and felt hopped up on goof balls most of the day and barely made it out of bed. I am supposed to return to work tomorrow. So I really hope I'll be able to get it together.

I never got that with pred. I'm one of the few who swear by it. Only thing that really works for me so far.

If your doc prescribed the pred then take it at the prescribed dose.

Doc tried to be nice last tIme and start DS on a lower dose Xx mg ( mind you) he is child) we ended up on pred way longer.
Pred in and of itself does not cause weight gain.
When DS Was on it with EN no weight gain at all.
Second time he had food ... Well the munches took over.
Either way you need to be honest with you doc