Prednisone works immediately

I still have up and down. When it goes too bad, I take prednisone. But when I start taking prednisone, I am doing very well almost immediately, in a half day. I just started taking prednisone again last night, and I am already good. I do not go to bathroom.

My doctor says that prednisone would work 3 - 4 days after taking it. But in my case, I do not go to bathroom just from right on that day or next day. My doctor thinks that it is strange that it works so fast to me. Does prednisone work so fast to you too?

I am wondering if UC is the real root cause of diarrhea and going bathroom so often, or could it be somewhere else like liver or pancreas or small intestine?

Sorry to hear that. It seems that your body is already used to it. I was taking pred for 4 years. I stopped 1.5 yrs ago. When I stopped it, it was so bad, it was a terrible time. However I did not want to take pred any more. It's going to melt down my bone. After struggling several months, my body became as same as before.

Now I am fine without pred most time. But when it goes really bad, I take for 2 - 3 weeks only.

Post Edited (Seattle Kevin) : 12/5/2012 3:26:16 PM (GMT-7)

i only took pred twice. the first time for 3 days- i just couldn't handle it so i stopped, and then the second time for 3.5 months. i don't think my body was used to it at all. i think my body just doesn't respond to medicine unfortunately. i was on 40 mg doses and don't know why it never did a thing of good for me. i'd never risk taking it again though. i had to use a walker half the time i was on it.

I read that it is quickly absorbed into blood plasma and also quickly moves out of blood plasma into cells. Maybe 1-2 hours for it to peak in plasma, and maybe 50% moving out of plasma in another hour. (Also about 50% is eliminated form the body in 18-36 hours).

The question is once it is in the cells, and doing the things it does to block inflammation, how much dent in inflammation can it make how quickly. The chemical signals here are complicated and I can't work out an estimate. However a lot of people report noticeable relief in 1-2 days, so it is quick, but not freakishly quick to feel relief in 12-18 hours.

If you are saying you are getting full (vs some) in less time (e.g., 6 hours) then that would seem almost too quick. Something else might be going on in that case - like your idea that the diarrhea is related to liver or pancreas or something.

I'm seeing my doc next week about going on prednisone (he had suggested it in the past). This will be my first time on it.

What should I anticipate from pred? One thing I like for sure about pred is that it doesn't cost a lot of money. I want to do the enemas, but gosh, those things are expensive without insurance :(

Is it wrong for me to be excited about the possibility of gaining weight through pred's side effects?

Yes, prednisone is very cheap :) Yes, it has side effects. I also gained weight, but went back again after stop pred. To me, pred is a magic, but it ruins my body after all taking for a long time...

Seattle Kevin, how does it ruin your body? Your bones got weak and brittle? Do you recover after you are off the pred?

Btw, where in Seattle are you from? I'm from the Beacon Hill area.

Yes, bones get weak and joints get bad too. When I stopped pred, I had pain on my fingers, legs, huckle bone, etc, kind of all my body was painful. I also heard from a doctor about a lady who has taken pred for 10+ years, and her backbone got almost broken down and had a big surgery to sustain her body.

I am living in Sammamish, commuting to Queen anne area.

Pred worked very quickly for me when I started it as well.

However, rather than doing what you are currently doing, I would start using mesalamine enemas, nightly when you experience flare symptoms and taper to twice weekly when you're in remission. That may save you from needing pred.

I did use them for the first week but my GI told me to stop, they were the hydrocortisone ones. I still have 14 left, I have debated using a couple a week.

So, it looks like I should stock up on healthy snacks for the pred munching sessions.

I have back pain and some joint pain. I hope pred will not make it noticeable worse :(

It's funny, many of the side effects like being tired, joint pain, being foggy, etc., these are things I feel every day without pred. It will be interesting to see whether these symptoms will go more south on pred.

I'll get on the enemas when I have insurance, for now, they are out of my budget.