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Prednisone dosage split
Something that may help someone but confirm with your physician before implementing. I had a major flare up a few weeks ago. My Rheumatologist started me on a 20 mg Prednisone taper. For several day after about 7:00 pm the symptoms came back with a vengeance and lasted throughout the next morning. I ask my Rheumatologist if I could split the dose, 10 mg upon waking in the morning and 10 mg with dinner and he said although Prednisone is best taken in the morning when your body is naturally producing it to try the split dosage. Since splitting my symptoms have subsided.
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Yes ... I think this approach works for many people especially in the early stages. It doesn't need to be a 50/50 split. Whatever works is what my physician told me. I needed less Prednisone doing a 75/25 split but that was based on trial and error.
The other thing I learned was that it wasn't necessary to do a split dose for the duration of PMR. When I was able, I switched back to all in the morning. Switching back to all in the morning only occurred at low doses of Prednisone (less than 10 mg) when my inflammation levels were less.
I think my adrenals appreciated it when I switched back to all in the morning.
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2 ReactionsI always took my prednisone dose, whether split or in full, at 3-4 am. This made it easier to get out of bed pain free rather than taking it with breakfast and waiting for it to kick in. I slept through the ‘waiting’ period and get up usually at 8 am.
I’m now at 3mg and find an evening dose works best. I now usually supplement with Tylenol Arthritis at 5- 6 am so that mornings are pain free.
I know this approach has helped a few others so give it a try and see how you do. Good luck!
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4 ReactionsI’m currently taking 7.5 mg a day. I was taking my full dose in the morning after breakfast and would be fine during the day however about 3-4 AM it would wear off and my shoulder and wrist pain would come back. My Doctor recommended that I take 5mg in the morning and then 2.5 after dinner. I now go 24 hour pain free
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3 ReactionsI have been spliting my dose almost my entire time I've been taking pred. This was against my Rheumy's advise but completely necessary. I'm down to 0.5 mg just before bed, which is generally adequate to get a goods night rest free of pain.
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4 ReactionsAre you sleeping okay with that fairly large dose at night? Poor sleep seems to be the main complaint here with doses that high at night. Some of the medical suggestions with split doses are to take no more than one third of the daily dose at night, so that natural cortisol production times ( high in the mornings/low overnight) are more closely mimicked. I currently take 4.5mg in the morning and 1mg in the early evening with dinner which has kept me painfree in the mornings. My reductions come from the morning dose and the evening dose stays the same.
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1 ReactionNo problem sleeping. I take it around 6:00 p.m. with food.
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1 ReactionI wanted to ask again. Experiences with dexamethasone 1.5 every day. That is my dose at noon. How are you doing on it? And what strength?
Who are you asking, Marilyn? Can you tag them or start a new conversation asking your question? I don't think anyone on this conversation is taking dexamethasone.
I wanted to ask anyone taking dexamethasone their experience
I'm curious what your initial dosage was and how long it took you to taper down to 0.5 mg. Thank you.