Prednisone - how long can you safely use it?

Been on and off prednisone since end of August 2015.

I am on my 4th try tapering from 8 5mg tablets per day.

This time instead of going down 1 full pill per week the GI suggests going down 1\2 pill per week.

My concern is length of time on this particular drug. Is the time I have been on it considered long? Where do I fit into the time table???

More mental symptoms this time around... More easily agitated for sure. But sleep is fine and having to go pee in the night is still there but not so bad.

Usually start 40mg for 1-2 weeks then taper down 1 pill a week.

I'm 270lbs 6'6" male. If that makes any difference?

Ideally you want to be on pred as little as possible. I don't think there is a table you can place yourself on - rather just subjective views. Personally August to now as your only pred course (albeit a number of taper attempts) is not that long. My view is when you start to hit a year (and I realise this is pretty arbitrary measure, others will have different takes) without being able to get off it you should start to worry.

You mentioned your doc said drop by half a pill a week - but pills come in different mg. When i had major probs getting below 10mg, after numerous failed attempts I managed it by going down 1mg or 2mg a month. Very slow but got off in the end.

ya, the reality is no one can predict what pred will do to YOUR body - but as you already know, it will cause side effects - and it CAN cause long term damage to you - like previous posters have said, you need to find a better way of treating your UC - I question your GI's treatment plan - after this long, you need to be going in a different direction if what you are doing isn't working - clearly it isn't !

Maybe you should try the probiotic VSL #3 sachets as ordered. Helped me get off steroids ! You can purchase at Costco (cheapest price) or even amazon or ebay.

Length of time and dose matter. I bet there are people who have been on very low doses for a long time. I wouldn't advise this, but I would imagine there are people who have been. Being on a high dose should be quick. I always tried to taper down from 40mg within a week or 2 and go down 10mg per week. I usually didn't have any problems until I got down to 10mg or 15mg. There was a point where I needed to be free of it forever and I had surgery, but you have a ton of medical options open to you. It sounds like you need to see a GI and get a treatment plan going. You should get a stool test to see what's going on. You can try rectal meds or a different oral med if it's needed... If you can't get off pred, you are not well managed with your current treatment and you need something else or you need to add to what you're doing. It would be great if you have luck with nopal or SCD - but i personally wouldn't put all my eggs in that basket. Give it a try and see. If your GI's answer is another taper, you need a new GI. Trying to taper over and over without changing/adding meds, is a waste of time and it's bad for your overall health.

Thanks.. Just wishing this one takes. See my GI this Wed. Will be asking more questions for sure!

miestomaga said...
there doesn't seem to be an answer

just don't try to be on it long or repeatedly.

I was on it for the first 6 months of 2015. Every time I got below 15mgs, all symptoms would get way worse. Finally got off it cause it appeared that imuran started working. That only lasted 6 weeks. Started a 3 week taper at 15mgs for the time being before starting remicade. Got off it for a few months and had some rough times waiting for remicade to start working then got on a 4 week taper right before New Years starting at 20mgs. I was going on vacation and didn't feel comfortable so I did it as a temporary quick fix. I'm on 5mgs now for a few more days and am doing better than I have in years. I also just had my fifth remicade infusion. I didn't want to do the pred this past time but am happy I did because it seems like it sped up the healing/remicade process. Hopefully I won't have to take it again for a long time.