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tapering Pred while in a bad place

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 4/13/2011 8:47 PM (GMT 0)
All-

So things have gotten worse for me lately (8-10 bloody/day, miserable tenesmus, but I can still get through a day of work, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment!)- coming back from a week-long business trip and coming down with a cold/sinus infection that's lasted a number of weeks. I've been on 20mg Pred for some time before then, so my condition hasn't changed due to any change in Pred intake. Before the trip, I was actually doing pretty good. The cold/infection is starting to finally go away on its own, and waiting to see if that was most of my worsening or if I was just getting worse on my own (saw the doctor last week, he thinks the latter, and wants to get started on Remi or 6mp real quick- told him I need a bit more time).

Going from 20mg up to 40mg of Pred way back when made no difference; tapering back down to 20mg made no difference either. Any reason I shouldn't continue to taper? Either it's not helping at all, or I haven't hit the level yet where it is making a difference and I regress. Been extremely lucky and have had no side effects (yet), and want to get off the stuff regardless, and isolate whether Pred is doing anything at all for me before getting on other meds.

Going to give accupuncture a shot next week, possibly along with some other TCM, before Remi/6mp.
Posted 4/13/2011 9:11 PM (GMT 0)
Tough call. I personally don't think I would be comfortable tapering if I were in your shoes but it depends on what you're trying to achieve.

Do you want to get off prednisone no matter what the consequences?

If that's the case, then I would taper off and ignore the symptoms.

I felt lke I was going to have to go that route for a while and thankfully things stabilized with the addition of 6mp and I was finally able to taper off without having my symptoms return so far. I don't know how long it will last but for me, 6mp has helped. My biggest regret was waiting longer than necessary to accept that I needed something more than Asacol to keep me in remission. I was using steroid enemas, Rowasa, Asacol and I was on pred and I still couldn't taper down past 15mg!

You need to make the decision what you're going to use to stabilize your UC before your short course of prednisone turns into a very long course where your body becomes dependent. I think it's better to take 6mp than to let prednisone have it's way with you. I am trying to get my "old self" back and it's not easy.
Posted 4/14/2011 1:26 AM (GMT 0)
Notso- thanks for the good questions- lets me get some perspective! I do want to get off the Pred as soon as possible, but part of the reason I feel that way is that I don't think it's doing that much for me anyway (but who knows). But I do know I'll eventually be on 6mp or Remi (probably 6mp), so yes, I probably will get on 6mp sooner rather than later :)
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