7 Days Prednisolone...Still No Improvement?

[Ellowyne]

Hi all, I hope everyone is ok

It has been 7 days now since my son, Danni, started the Pred at 40mg...Although he seems to be eating better, his toilet is still very watery and the frequency of visits has only reduced by one or two. The problem is, he is supposed to start tapering down to 35mg aday, as from tomorow! The Consultant is away on holiday for a futher week yet and I am unsure what to do?...I know you may say contact the GP, I guess that is my only option, but they seem to show little knowledge of Crohns at all!...Can anyone advise as what I should do...should I wait it out untill the Consultant comes back?...I am tempted to keep him on the 40mg, but I dare'nt do that without checking things out properly...I am just worried as to why the Pred has not kicked in yet?...Thank you for reading...Lorraine xXx

 

[saltimbanc0]

Have they retested his inflammation markers? Admittedly this isnt accurate in all cases but may be what the team is going on. A taper would normally start from 30-40mg so its not that indicative that they think its truly resolved just that they are already keeping to the most conservative dose which id say is errin gon the side of precaution of over treatment wihch is responsible in a way.
Often the symptoms resolve a little slower than the rate of improvement in the gut itself. Obviously if he continues to stay the same over the following week while they then want to continue tapering then it needs to be questioned. It does seem the conultant would check more thoroughly were he around. If you want to get some reassurance from your GP in the meantime ask them to repeat his ESR and CRP at the end of the week or early next and dont drop below 30mg until you have those results back. What is the proposed taper schedule dropping how much every how often?

 

[saltimbanc0]

Ah sorry i just read down by 5mg each week. Id def be happy with this assuming you are able to contact the gastro by the time he is down to 20ish. Again your GP can order those 2 blood tests very easily and cheaply if you want to check that the inflammation is going down and well they are dad simple to interpret without any GI speciality knowledge.
The consultant im sure is just being mindful of keeping side effects of a steroid treatment to a minimum for a younger person and they will most likely respond quite well anyway.

 

[SdN]

Don't be too alarmed if the pred doesn't work right away but definitely tell your doctor. They may need to adjust the taper to start at a later date. Usually the taper isn't started until things are pretty much under control. I had a flare-up earlier this year and the prednisone didn't really start to work until a few weeks in. Also don't let yourself be tempted to increase the dose without the doctor's approval it will only cause problems. Anything more than 40mg is probably overkill.