Prednisone again :(

So I've been off Prednisone for about a month now. However, my symptoms are back with a vengeance and I go on vacation in 5 days so I need to get better ASAP, and nothing else (Remicade, Azathioprine, Entocort) have worked for me.

This time my doctor has started me on a dose of only 20mg, which seems pretty low to me because last time I was started on 40mg. He said that if I don't see improvement in a couple of days, then to increase to 30, and then 40 if need be. However, I hope that 20mg will do the trick.

My question is, have any of you had an experience with a starting dose of only 20mg of Prednisone? If so, did it give you that same quick fix that a high dose gives? Also, did you notice the side-effects that come along with higher doses? (As I am still trying to lose the subtle moon-face from my previous doses of Pred.)

Thanks!

mharvey90 said:

My question is, have any of you had an experience with a starting dose of only 20mg of Prednisone?

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The one time my doc put me on 20 mg of pred, it didn't do anything for me. He also said "I would have never put you on that amount.", haha - well you did!, I wanted to say.
Anyways - all other times I have started at 40.

i've been on pred a number of times and usually, like most people i believe, start on a 40mg dosage. however a week or so before i took some exams at school i felt myself going downhill and like you, just wanted a quick fix to get me going again and was started at 20mg of the pred.

because i wasn't feeling too bad at the time the pred worked very well even at a low dose so in my opinion alot is down to the severity of your crohn's at this moment in time. But as you say your symtoms are "back with a vengeance" it might be a better idea to start at 30 or 40mg. as for side effects i was recovering from a previous dose of the drug, again like yourself, and didn't really notice the side effects get any worse, they just stopped getting any better.

hope i've helped, feel free to ask any questions.

thanks for both your of your inputs! just started 20mg today so we'll see how i start to feel...hopefully much better.

I usually start on 25mg when I need a quick fix, and it's always worked within a couple of days.

I started on 30g / day when I was first diagnosed. It worked like a dream until I got down to 10mg / day dosages. The low doses seemed to keep the pain at bay, but toilet visits were getting messy and more frequent.

Like you, I was off the treatment for about a month before the pain and other major symptoms came back. Now I am back on the Prednisolone at 40mg /day since the previous course didn't quite put it in to full remission. Luckily for me though, it seems to be very effective, very quickly with no obvious negative side effects.

So I would guess that you will be upping your dose back up to 40mg / day pretty soon...

I decided not to even up my dose because I just don't want to deal with the side-effects, plus I was figuring that I get my remicade soon so that will help too. However, I got my remicade today (4th infusion) and had a serious allergic reaction and I had to stop it immediately (i could not breathe at all, and had to get oxygen) so I start Humira soon....if my insurance company approves it, ughhhhhhhh >