# Surgery after Prednisone Taper



## PENWESTERN (Feb 1, 2009)

I stopped Prednisone two weeks before surgery after a twelve week regiment.

Surgeon says if I am still on it at time of surgery he will give me a 100 mg prednisone boost.  Does this mean I will be back on a taper schedule?

It has been less than a week since my last prednisone tablet (10 mg).  I am having severe headaches and shoulder aches.  How long can I expect this pain to last?  I use tylenol and it works.

Small Bowel Resection Planned in two weeks and right now my WBC and the neutricals are high.  The red blood count is low.


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## Colt (Feb 1, 2009)

A single shot shouldn't require a taper. I don't see what it will do to help though. So what if a massive 100mg shot of prednisone takes away your inflammation? It'll be out of your system and like it was never there by the next day.

Crohn's damage occurs over time. Taking a 1 day time-out isn't going to accomplish anything. It's like stopping someone who is hemorrhaging blood from bleeding for 5 seconds and then resuming. They're still going to bleed to death. You only gave them an extra 5 seconds of life. Whoopie.

To boot the prednisone is going to ruin your ability to heal (especially with a massive dose like that) and cause you to bleed and bruise more which means you'll be set back in your recovery time and have a greater risk of complications. Frankly I don't see a point. The benefits don't even begin to compare with the problems caused by giving you a single huge dose of prednisone right after a major surgery.

It just seems crazy to me to do major surgery on someone who is anemic and impair their ability to stop bleeding while you're at it. Prednisone makes people bruise and bleed like they're on pain blood thinners. You should see the crazy things that happen when you stick a prednisone patient and their vein blows up. I'm still trying to get the blood stains off my shoes from the last one I stuck. He wouldn't do the surgery and then give you a massive dose of heparin. He'd wait until you had healed enough so that there wasn't a risk of bleeding. So why would he give you a worthless single shot of prednisone and put you at risk for bleeding and extend your recovery time?

You're incredibly likely to need an infusion even if everything does go well. Add to that you could start bleeding post-surgery and who knows how bad the bleeding would be let alone how long it will take to stop. You're almost certainly not going to die from it since you'd be in a hospital having a CBC taken at least once a day, but I don't think causing you to be stuck in a hospital bed longer is going to do good for anyone.

You clearly do need to be on the prednisone considering you are bad enough that you're having a resection and your test results are bad. But, you need long-term therapy to protect you from further damage and frankly your doctor should be waiting until you've had a chance to heal from your surgery a little bit.

You should be headed for remicade or something to replace the prednisone too. Just plain taking you off of the drug and leaving you with nothing is only going to let the disease run rampant with nothing to even slow it down.

Bah, I wish I could slap some of these doctors around a little bit. Some of them can't muster a focused thought any better than your average hard core pot head. I think it's all the 36 hour shifts that fry their brains during residency.


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## PENWESTERN (Feb 2, 2009)

Thanks so much.  I am going to clarify with surgeon as I don't want a boost.  He did not offer this to me I asked him what if I have to go back on in the next two weeks as I had finished the day we met.    I am on remicade and imuran already.  In fact I have an infusion in two days.

This is my first surgery so I am a little jittery.

I am supposed to keep this maintenance plan going after surgery as well.  I have not talked to either doctor since the CBC.   Surgeon says no prednisone after surgery.

I am sorry if I left off details.  I have been battling CD for over a decade now.


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## mommy1st (Feb 2, 2009)

Good luck on your upcoming surgery.  I am having my fourth surgery on Feb 9th and I am still very jittery so that is normal.  Just remember to keep up with your maintenance drugs after surgery, just because you feel good after surgery doesn't mean that you won't need them at all.  I will be on 20mg of pred at the time of surgery so I will have to taper afterwards, but then hopefully that will be it.  When is your surgery scheduled for? Let us know how it goes.


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