When to Take Prednisone?

[College Student]

I just started this medication, and I was wondering when I should take it? My doctor told me absolutely NOTHING.
Right now I am taking 40mgs.

Should I split the dose? Or take it all at once? When should I even take it?

And my main question.. Will taking this drug at different times, or the same time, cause me to have more or less side affects? I have none yet, but I am totally freaked out because of the horror stories of moon face and weight gain.

HELP!

 

[nogutsnoglory]

I think its important to find out from your doctor or pharmacist what they intended.

Didn't your pharmacy print directions on the label?

 

[Catherine]

My daughter always took it in one dose in the morning.

 

[College Student]

No. My doctor just told me to take 40mg a day. As for my pharmacist, the label only states when I need to start tapering off.

I'm worried about the insomnia I've been having. I have heard that taking one dose early in the morning helps with this.

 

[DustyKat]

Definitely take it in one dose and in the morning. I think most people find doing it this way helps stave off the insomnia side of things.

The main thing with Prednisone is to continue taking the drug until your taper is complete. It can be dangerous to stop the medication cold turkey once it has been taken for longer than a week as your adrenal glands need time to kick back into action and start producing their own cortisol.

Dusty. xxx

 

[UnXmas]

I found it made no difference whether I took it early in the morning or not - I got insomnia either way and needed sleeping pills - but I might have been an anomaly in this respect.

The time you take it shouldn't make too much difference in most other aspects, if your doctor didn't specify and the label doesn't specify then perhaps he didn't think it that important, though he really should have told you and you'd be perfectly entitled to contact him and check. What dosage is each individual pill?

Moonface and weight gain, if they're going to happen, will happen regardless of when you take the pred and whether or not you split the dose. Though don't get anxious unnecessarily - I didn't gain any weight on prednisone. You can avoid most of the weight gain if you can keep your diet the same as most of the weight people gain on pred is from eating more due to increased appetite - the drug itself doesn't cause weight gain other than a bit of water retention.

The only other issue with the timing of the dose is that missing a dose has more consequences for prednisone than most other drugs. If you forget to take it you might start to feel ill pretty quickly. So if remembering to take pills is an issue for you, you might want to think about what would be the best way to help you remember (e.g. I kept the pills by my laptop, and since I put my laptop on in the morning, I'd see the pills there and be reminded to take them each morning). I think I've read that taking prednisone with food makes it easier on the stomach for some people, which is the case with quite a lot of meds.

 

[Rebreb]

I take it in the morning. And always with a little bit of food because it makes me very nauseus.

 

[vz101]

I take mine as early as possible in the morning and with food. Also sometimes use benadryl to counteract the insomnia.

 

[sickofcrohns]

If you're getting an upset stomach, you can split the dose. Otherwise, take it in the morning so that it will interfere minimally with your sleep cycle. (It does tend to make people hyper!)

Splitting the dose or taking it all at once has no effect on moon face or weight gain, alas.

 

[hyperbole]

Personally, I taken it in the morning as if I take it after midday I have real trouble sleeping, even if it's only 5mgs.
And it's just easier to take it all at once, so you don't forget.