Connect
← Return to Timing of taking prednisone
Discussion
Comment receiving replies
Yup when I first started taking steroids I realized I needed to take them between midnight and 2 am for maximum effectiveness, otherwise I would wake up with terrible myalgias and no additional amount throughout the day would relieve it! It was like my body was busy self-destructing in my sleep and the better I slept, the worse the symptoms were upon waking. Now that I have been taking them for a while my issue seems more to be with combating fatigue perhaps from being on a lower dose and possibly secondary adrenal insufficiency…I ‘run out of gas’ between 10 to 11am and need naps fairly often. I am experimenting with dose splitting but haven’t found the perfect timing yet because my work hours can be very unpredictable…
Replies to "Yup when I first started taking steroids I realized I needed to take them between midnight..."
Connect
"It was like my body was busy self-destructing in my sleep and the better I slept, the worse the symptoms were upon waking."
I had this problem too. My pain was the worst at 3 a.m. and I would wake up in extreme pain. I had to take part of my Prednisone dose at 3 a.m. I would save part of my dose for later in the day.
The timing was probably caused by adrenal insufficiency because cortisol levels are at their lowest during the night when we sleep. My cortisol level dropped to extremely low levels when my adrenals were suppressed because of being on Prednisone. It was like my body was telling me to take Prednisone to replace the cortisol that my adrenals weren't producing. It was all part of the circadian rhythm that was repeated every 24 hours. Cortisol is what regulates inflammation so I think my inflammation levels increased during the night when my cortisol level dropped.
"Painsomnia" isn't a medical term but it describes what happens when cortisol levels drop during the night.
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-health/painsomnia