BIG dose o'prednisone ?

[Meegs]

So my neuro prescribed 500 mg/day (10 pills of the 25mg tabs twice a day) for the next 4 days of prednisone, followed by smaller and smaller doses over the next week and a bit.

Does that seem like a lot? He also prescribed something for my stomach and some ativan to help sleep.

Anyone else experienced a dose like this? did it kick your relapse in the ass? I've had facial numbness for over 2 weeks now... it sucks.

[LR1234]

I was prescribed that for 5 days (500mg per day)
I also got the stuff tohelp with the stomach...Which I have to say tasted disgusting!!!! The steroids did their job though.

[Meegs]

i know, eh?
I just took the first dose and UGH! 11 pills, not cool.
and yah, the stomach one is gross.

[Meegs]

Can you crush prednisone pills?

[LR1234]

I am sure you could....just have to make sure they all get swallowed.

[queenie]

That is not an especially high dose, except that if you need that much, you probably should be getting it IV.
Something for your tummy and sleep is standard.

[NHE]

Does that seem like a lot? He also prescribed something for my stomach and some ativan to help sleep.

Ativan is pretty heavy duty stuff. I would take as little as possible and only if you really need it. You might want to even see how you get along without it first. When I had oral steroids, I didn't have any sleep disruptions but I did have one incidence where my mind was racing when I was on the phone with someone. It was all I could do to just keep my mouth shut and not let it go off at light speed. If you do wind up taking ativan, then take as little as possible and definitely don't mix it with alcohol!

NHE

[CureOrBust]

Can you crush prednisone pills?

I have noticed if the prednisone gets stuck in my mouth too long, it tastes REALLY bad. I am thinking crushing would be baaaaad idea.

[Meegs]

yah... crushing was a HORRIBLE IDEA!!!! I ended up gagging and having that horrid taste in my mouth even longer.

Ugh....
Starting to taper off of the huge dose now... much smaller... more manageable. And? My face isn't numb anymore. Hoorah!

One thing i did find that helped with the aftertaste? Nutella. Take a swig of the pills, then a spoon of Nutella. Mmmm

[CureOrBust]

If you think the number of pills you had to take was plenty, when I was in the UK, the largest dose they had was 5mg! even at a lowly 75mg dose it was 15 pills, for 500mg....

Although, they were small, and came in a flavoured, soluble form, but, 100 pills!

[Rose2]

hi.
I have had Prednisone 4 times since my diagnosis.
Only once did I take that horrible long oral treatment. It was barbaric and never again.
I am now in another flare, taking 3 days of 1 hour IV solumedrol infusions at the out pt at the hospital.
i insisted no other way. My neuro was fine with it as none of the home health providers will infuse at home any more, they say.
I did have a good result from the oral, which i did complete like a good patient, and I am having a good result on day 2 of the IV.
Just my experience.
Rose

[tripalot]

I have twice in the last two years taken 1000mgs of prednisone a day for five days. Sure got me walking again but the no sleep issue is a real killer !!!!!!!!!! Now that's a big load of pills. 20 pills every morning !!!!!!!!

May start Tysabri next month.

[Wendigo]

I was given 50 mg twice a day for a tapering five day course as a trial to see how I'd react to it. I was told that was a large dose but now I wonder after hearing how much ohters have been given. I was told the preferable method is by IV.

With my first attack earlier this year I did some checking with my insurance company on options. Going to the hospital IV infusion cliinic would have cost me $2,000. My neurologist told me there were home health care services that come to your home for this. It cost me $800 and I don't even know how much it saved the insurance company PLUS I didn't have to get driven somewhere each day. It was scary having Solu-Medrol, a new drug for me, at home but it was well tolerated. The line is left in place for a few days.