Prednisone question

[Daunting]

HI Everyone.

This is my first time taking the 8 week course of prednisone. I have finally been diagnosed with Microscopic colist in October of 2012. I was put on entocort 2 weeks ago, and it did not help. The doctor prescribed me prednisone for the 8 week course, slowly tappering off over that period of time. This is my first day on it. The D Is non existent so far, but i think its mostly because i havent eaten much lately. I did have a muffin about 30 minutes ago and started feeling some extreme pain and flushin, befoe I visited the doctor almost as soon as I ate about an hour or two afterwards I would start to go to the loo, but with no pain. Just wondering if anyone knows why I may have pain, is the prednisone trying to work itself?

For those that have take the 8 week tappering, has it helped? He said he may put me back on entocort after wards once it calms down, than slowly wean me off of it or keep me at 3mg for a while if it helps.
Has anyone had this done??

 

[xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx]

Hello,
Give the pred a few days to get going and hopefully you will be feeling a lot better
I have been on it since xmas and the tapering has gone really well so far. You may feel your symptoms coming back a bit when you lower the dosages but if you keep your GI informed they can tell you if you need to change you dose, stay higher for longer etc. Good luck

 

[Daunting]

@ Little miss Valentine.

Thank you for the reply. I am just scared that this won't work and I don't know where we will go from there.

I think to be honest this is my very first big flare. My intestines feel so sensitive right now, and there is some pain.

Is it normal for prednisone to give pain during the first few days while things start to stabilize, I know that i am starting my period this week so that may not be helping either.

 

[Jennifer]

From what I've read is that for some people it can take roughly 2-3 weeks for Entocort to start working. Its not as fast acting as Prednisone. Prednisone can take a few days to start working so I'm wondering if the Entocort might have finally started to work as you've noticed improvement in less than a day after starting it. What dose of Prednisone were you given (dosing is done by weight and how bad the inflammation is so you may not find people with the exact same dose and schedule)?

Pain could be caused by multiple things such as gas, a narrowing caused by inflammation, a narrowing caused by scar tissue, irritated/inflamed bowel in general etc.

For me Prednisone and Entocort usually help to get inflammation under control but I never just took steroids alone. I'd usually be on Asacol and 6MP as well. I've taken both Entocort and Prednisone at the same time to try to get the inflammation under control but at the time it wasn't enough and that's when I had my resection. So sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Just depends on the person and situation.

Most people tend to have a hard time tapering off of Prednisone so you may notice symptoms returning around 20-10mg. If symptoms start returning then the dose will be bumped up a little and you'll likely have to have an even slower taper. 5mg tables can be cut in half and it also comes in 1mg tables if needed. Be sure to keep in touch with your GI if any of your symptoms get worse and never just stop taking Prednisone as that can cause Adrenal Insufficiency/Crisis which can be deadly. http://www.crohnsforum.com/wiki/Adrenal-Insufficiency-Crisis

Hope it helps. Keep us posted.

 

[Daunting]

Thank you crabby.

The doctor has prescribed me 40mg for the first week than a decrease of 5 every one after, I see him in 2 weeks. I have been on entocort since January 17 and usually it helps me almost right away. This time it only helped with the wattery diarrhea and pain on the right side, and not the urgency and the frequent soft stools, and I mean urgent, plus the pain on the left side remained. Yes I do believe I have some irritation and quite a bit, he does not think I have any blockages or obstructions, or even inflammation that will reduce the size. As my inflammation is very low and my colonoscopy showed remarkably clean bowels, only under the microscope the inflammation is visible. My interpretation of this is, I must have ibs with this as well, as I already know i have diverticulosis. What a mix.

This time around this flare feels different. If feels like my intestines are extremely sensitive and don't want to keep anything in.
The doctor this the entocort was not strong enought to take care of all the flare and just settled what it could, I am hypersensitive to medications. He also said i may have to be put back on after the prednisone.
I guess I will have to wait and see.

Thanks all