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Prednisone Dosage

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Posted 5/10/2014 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
Hey guys, quick question about prednisone dosage. I know the standard dosage is 40 mg/day, but does anyone know what the maximum is? More importantly, has anyone who hasnt responded to 40 mg noticed improvement when they increased their dose?

Thanks!
Posted 5/10/2014 9:21 PM (GMT 0)
I always started at 40mg. I have seen some people here starting at 60 or 80 but it's less common. I think IV doses are even higher. I don't know whether it's likely you would see results if you had no result at 40mg and you increased to 60mg. Some people never see results with prednisone. Have you tried Uceris? I feel lucky that my symptoms improved a lot with Uceris and I didn't have to take pred with my most recent flare up. It's not the best to be on any of these meds but at least i am able to get sleep while on uceris.
Posted 5/10/2014 9:27 PM (GMT 0)
Well the first time I tried pred I felt much better with about 48 hours. Now, my third time trying it, I havent noticed much improvement at all.

I would love to try Uceris, but its not available in Canada because that would be too easy (note sarcasm).

Fortunately, Ive never had any side effects from pred so I cant really complain, but Im still curious about whether increasing dosage would help
Posted 5/10/2014 9:37 PM (GMT 0)
i started on 40mg about a week ago and my doc just upped me to 60mg starting today bc the flare is so bad and the pred. seemed to be wearing off at night. i'll keep you posted if i see an improvement with the increase...
Posted 5/10/2014 9:41 PM (GMT 0)
Great, thanks a lot voletasam! I hope it works out for you!
Posted 5/10/2014 10:29 PM (GMT 0)
Unfortunately, that's a bad sign. Prednisone can be prescribed by your weight. Most people start out at 40mgs for UC. I took it at a much higher dose for another autoimmune disease. I'm thinking that if you had "success" starting at 40 in the past and it's not cutting it anymore, even though you can take a higher dose, it doesn't bode well at all for tapering off. More than likely either you won't be able to or your symptoms are pretty much guaranteed to return once tapered lower or off. I recommend a completely different game plan.
Posted 5/10/2014 10:33 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the reply Gary. The pred was always going to be a short term solution for me. I will be starting Humira or one of the trial drugs soon (as a long term approach) and I wanted to try to get myself a head start with a short dose of pred if possible.
Posted 5/10/2014 11:08 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on oral pred twice and both times my doctor started me at 60mg. I doubt it goes by weight because the first time I started it my flare was so bad that I was down to 110 lbs. I waited so long into my flare to start it that it didn't work fast enough and I had to be hospitalized. Then I was on 120mg IV methylprednisolone. It took 2 weeks for the pred to kick in, because I was so bad off. They were talking remicade/surgery because the pred wasn't working. But then miraculously it did. It just took a bit.

The second time, I took it much quicker into the flare and it began working immediately. I think my doctor starts me at 60mg because he really wants to make sure the immune system gets shut down.
Posted 5/10/2014 11:24 PM (GMT 0)
@ RockerGirl - Interesting, so the first time you took it, you didnt notice any relief for a couple of weeks? Im in the same situation (waited a long time into the flare to get started) so thats cause for a bit of hope I guess.
Posted 5/11/2014 2:29 AM (GMT 0)
Rockergirl, i have a couple questions for you! are you in remission now/have you been in remission since your last flare? when it took 2 weeks for the pred. to kick in did you see any gradual improvement, or was it pretty sudden? what are your flares like?
Posted 5/11/2014 2:55 AM (GMT 0)
Last round I took it up to 70-80 for a bit then hung at 60 before cutting in half and heading down.

When I did that before under doctors care he said only more side effects above 60.

Last time my GI was not giving me enough to effect healing before coming down so I went to GP and got more much more and been in solid recovery ever since.
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