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Anyone ever use prednisone for very short periods?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 7/5/2009 2:57 AM (GMT 0)
I hate the side effects of prednisone, but I am feeling bad. Usually, if I use prednisone after the first day, everything is normal. Do you think that my doctor could put me on it just for a week or so? Maybe some of you have been on prednisone for very short periods.
Posted 7/5/2009 12:47 PM (GMT 0)
Only if you start at a low dose. My last pred course started at 20mg and lasted only 10 days. I think what you are asking is can you start a high dose and then suddenly stop--NO. Your body needs time to start producing its own cortisol again. That's the reason for the taper. I don't know what the shock would be like if you suddenly deprived yourself of cortisol, but it would not be good.
Posted 7/5/2009 1:00 PM (GMT 0)
I was only on it for 2 weeks. I started on low dose and continued to taper the whole 2 weeks
Posted 7/5/2009 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
You could do a prednisone taper from 60 - 0 in 10 days...but I would think you should also be on rectal 5ASA meds.

q
Posted 7/5/2009 3:56 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks guys. Hopefully my GI will help.
Posted 7/5/2009 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
My GP gave me Prednisone for a 5 day period to give me a kick start and then I just stopped taking it at the end of the 5 days. It did help with the symptoms, but I didn't feel as good on it as my doc said I would.
Posted 7/5/2009 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
I was on it for a month last time.
Posted 7/10/2009 8:38 PM (GMT 0)
Quincy, chlohan, and Jano,

Can you please tell me the exact regimen you had for the taper? Did you start from 40mg or higher? I ask because my doctor did not want me to taper over a short period.
Posted 7/11/2009 4:11 AM (GMT 0)
I've not been on pred...but if you are having trouble tapering at some levels, sometimes doing an alternating taper is helpful (as per some UCers' suggestions in the past).

An example of that would be 15, 15, 15, 15, .... 10, 15, 10, 15, 10, 15...10, 10, 10, 10,.....
Posted 7/11/2009 4:36 AM (GMT 0)
If you are on it for under 10-14 days you can stop suddenly. I have taken 60mg prednisone many times when I have a flare up and I taper myself off it rapidly. I actually like the side effects of prednisone. I'll take a tablet in the morning and be much more energetic in the morning and additionally i will be able to gorge myself on foods that normally bother my stomach. Prednisone is bad stuff though and reaks havic on so many other parts of your body, so just be careful. You really don't need to taper it if you are on it for a short period 1-2 weeks, but not sure how your colitis will respond to suddenly dropping it. Patients with asthma get short doses of steroids all the time and do not need to taper it.
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