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Difficult time with prednisone
My er dr put me on 20mg prednisone 2x a day. I’m 110 lbs. this was totally messing with me so bad. So my dr took me off if 20mg. My lungs had inflammation and nothing I did was helping with the severe jitters and burning skin. Is there a secret to using prednisone? Or did maybe the er Dr prescribed me too large of a dosage?
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Prednisone is very erratic. I also have an autoimmune disease and have been on 5mg/ daily prednisone for 4 years. You have to ween off slow, I didn’t and twice ended up in the ER. My Rheumatologist designed a reduction plan that continues for 5 months. I stay at each level for 1 month. I plan on trying after I’m recovered from Covid and Pneumonia!
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1 ReactionI’m just trying to figure out how to use it for about a week. I do know you have to ween off. Trying to figure out how to use it like are there certain foods you have to eat to minimize the jitters and hot flashes
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1 ReactionYou’re not trying to figure this out on your own, are you? Physician, PA, NP or RN should be following you. Prednisone can be dangerous in certain situations. Be careful.
J
prednisone takes over production of cortisol. Your body thinks it has enough and tells the pituitary to quit producing it. You have to have cortisol to function thus the withdrawal symptoms when you stop prednisone. The weaning period is to allow your body time to restart. Generally up to 2 weeks is safe to experiment with dosage and stop taking the drug. They prescribe 7-10 day prednisone packs for this reason. Prednisone is not a good choice for long term use. It has many side effects. do a search on prednisone withdrawal.
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1 ReactionI’m thinking tuckerp is giving you the best advice as I am only taking 5mg prednisone it is in conjunction with Zytiga which of course is for my stage 4 prostate cancer and you really must adopt some kind of tapering regimen because you’ll get very sick if you try to just stop taking it, so you might want to follow tuckerp’s advice.
Prednisone 20 mg twice a day is a bit of an unusual dosing pattern. Usually one would see daily doses, low, or larger doses with a taper plan written on the prescription. I have to use prednisone when I have a COPD flair up and absolutely hate it. But usually the Pulmo will start me on 40mg x 10 days, then 20 times ten and so on. The first couple of days aren't bad because you get a little bump but then it becomes almost unbearable. Typically in the ER setting the Dr will order Solumedrol IV push then put you on a smaller "by mouth" dose. It really all depends on how you are presenting clinically.