Prednisolone and Elemental 028 Extra

[Uffie]

Prednisolone is the course of treatment which I am following until I go to consultation with a new doctor/hospital on the 19th. I'm hoping they will put together a long term remission treatment plan but for the moment i'm using prednisolone.

I am taking 40mg a day all at about 7am after having a large bowl of Frosties with some milk.

I'm very sensitive to prednisolone in my stomach (even though i am taking lansoprazole for acid reflux - i take this about 30mins - 1 hour before breakfast). I sometimes have BM immediately after taking the tablets and always can feel odd sensation in my stomach.

I have lost a lot of weight and was v worried about it and my dietician suggest I have just the Elemental drinks (10 cartons a day).

I tried this but the pred hurt so much that I can't do this. I have to have solids in my body. So i usually try to have 3 small solid meals a day and 5 or 6 cartons.

I was wondering has anyone taken prednisolone and a liquid diet as a combined treatment and how did your body react to not having solids?

The pred has really helped my joint pain and mouth ulcers but i don't know if it's helping my colon at all.

 

[littlemissh]

I am on pred and elemental, was on no solids for 3 months and now gradually introducing food. For me I found food made my pain worse so not eating was easier. Have you spoken to your consultant about increasing your lansoprazole or another PPI. I was on quadruple the normal dose to protect my stomach...but then I did have ulcers in my stomach and duodenum. You may find an increased dose may help.

 

[Uffie]

Thanks for your reply, that's quite interesting. I will speak to my GP about this tomorrow.

I'm avoiding my gastro doc at the moment because she doesn't understand why i'm worrying about wanting relief now. She wants me to start immunosuppressants. I have said I will consider it but for the moment I want to feel a bit stronger and put some weight on. She is not happy with me. But it's not long until I see new doc/hosp so i'm just trying to keep going until then.

When i was first put on the pred (a few weeks ago)i was still just eating solid foods. I was presc 30mg and joint pain relief was instant but my BMs doubled and abdominal pain increased. I ended up starting having codeine phosphate for pain relief. So I was reduced to 20mg, but then the joint pain returned.

Due to increased BM i'd lost a lot more weight and that was when i started elemental. The first day on liquids I took my pred and was instantly in pain in my stomach. I quickly ate solids and felt ok-ish.

On 2 june i was increased to 40mg pred.

 

[FruitLoop]

Elemental can work really well but you need to give it a few days of solely liquid diet.

I am similar in that solid food eases the pain BUT it then causes problems lower down.

If i dont eat i get a weird pain which my dietician says is the ulcers kind of rubbing on themselves due to the bowel being empty.

I have a cupboard full of elemental and modulen and every day i intend to start them and every day i fail!

Have you tried Modulen ? Its thicker than Elemental so may help?

 

[StarGirrrrl]

I may sound silly, but have you tried different foods to see if that helps? Maybe something like a few slices of toast?

 

[Uffie]

I have tried modulen before but not alongside prednisolone. I was doing it as a liquid diet for 6 weeks so now i've gone off it. Elemental tastes better to me now and is more practical (being in cartons) as i'm too weak to make up my own modulen shakes.

I have tried having toast but it doesn't feel like it's doing me much good. The foods i manage the best are Frosties, vegetable soups, risottos and just plain rice in veg stock.

I keep a food & symptom diary but it's hard identfying which things cause me problems.

I'm happy to just go on liquids but worry about the pain the pred might then cause without having solids.