Prednisone

Started 40mg prednisone today for flare producing bloody diarrhea about ten times per day for over a month. Was on uceris oral and foam which seemed to do nothing. I’ve used steroid enemas before which did nothing either. This is my first time on pred, should I be worried about not responding if the topical stuff never worked for me? I can’t take mesalamine anything. Follow-up with GI next week to see how pred is doing and talk about bio. Looking through the posts here, remicade seems like a great choice although I’d love the convenience of at home dosing with something like humira or stelara. Thoughts on that? Thank you!!

Prednisone is a much, much stronger medication and has good odds of helping you feel better. Yes, pred often works when lesser and weaker steroids fail.

I'm on remicade, have been for 7+ years now, it's been great giving me a long remission without side effects. I know others on Humira and stelara, success stories on pretty much all of the above. Most of us do try a tnf-alpha-blocker as their first biologic, that is remicade/humira/simponi as they've been around the longest and are the least expensive. Often stelara/entyvio/xeljanz are 2nd choice biologics.

If you have not been on pred before, know we all have a love/hate relationship with the dreaded pred. Love it works rocket ship fast, making us feel better. Hate the temporary side effects which are almost guaranteed. Stuff like insomnia, night-sweats, wild mood swings, and moonface. It's colloquially known as "the devil's tic tacs" for a good reason.

Pred can work within days, a week, or several weeks time. It depends how bad your flare is, how severe, and how extensive in how fast you feel better on it. The less severe the flare, the quicker the response, the more severe a flare the longer for a response.

You could try swallowing them with some yogurt, applesauce or pudding if the taste is bothering you. Sorry they aren't helping yet.

I completely understand!

I recently was placed on prednisone and the urgency and frequency decreased within 4 days.

Yep, bleeding too. I'm tapering now

Sara14 said...
It used to make me feel pretty much completely back to normal within just a few days. The last two times I had to go up to 50 mg because 40 mg wasn't helping (maybe I wasn't patient enough, I don't know), and it took a week or two to work. When it works though, you will typically feel completely normal. No UC symptoms. It's extremely fast-acting compared to any other UC meds. I kind of loved prednisone. I can't take it anymore though since it gave me osteoporosis. Lol. I recommend taking a calcium and Vit. D supplement while on it or eat enough in your diet.

Ya im about to throw in the towel and start pred. been flaring for 6 months, on a roller coaster thinking im headed to remission then back down the drain...Funny thing is it sucks but i kinda like it too..lol. i don't really have to many side effects. one thing is im a musician and it makes me practice all day..so that's the positive thing hahah.

thing is i cant take any calcium, i get kidney stones as well.

My doc is REALLY hesitant to let me try Pred. All the mesalamine products are failing, as is Uceris. With a $6K high deductible plan, the bio's are not a financial option for me.

He said it would be an 8 week Rx. Does that sound right?

@Sara14, thanks.
Do you know which biologics come out cheapest with the copay assistance?

Did you guys have better luck with single dose in am or split doses? Had D 3 times within 3 hours at 0400, wondering if it’s because the previous morning dose wore off.

Yeah I’m hoping day 4 will be the magic day

Sara14 said...
Can you eat calcium in your diet or does that result in kidney stones as well? I don't know much about that. Sorry to hear about the flare. Yeah, the added energy was always kind of nice, lol. I just loved how fast it usually worked. I didn't love the weight gain and moon face though...ha.

Ya, dont want to eat it...probably would add to the calcium stones, that is the most common type of stone. Ya when i take pred, it knocks out the flare in a day.

I have a feeling day 4 is going to be your day. Keep us posted.