Sorry to hear you are having difficulties. You are probably right in that 5 mg of prednisone is not very likely to do anything quickly--and remember that if you take it more than something like 10 days, you have to taper back off of it.

Something to think about: Taking prednisone in a high dosage short duration burst so no tapering is needed is a treatment for a severe asthma exacerbation.

At least one of our members some years ago said he did that whenever his MG symptoms returned (with his doctor's approval) -- and claimed that it lasted for many months. I can't remember exactly, but I think he said he took 60mg for 5 days (or maybe a week) and then stopped completely.

From a website on asthma "prednisone shock" treatment

"The recommended dosing of prednisone for patients having acute breathing difficulties due to asthma is 40mg-60mg per day for 3-10 days taken in one dose or in two divided doses"

Another web site says:
"Although there are many dosage schedules for short term oral corticosteroid treatment, a typical short term burst-dosage schedule for an adult might look like this:
Day 1 40mg of prednisone
Day 2 30mg of prednisone
Day 3 20mg of prednisone
Day 4 10mg of prednisone
Day 5 5mg of prednisone "
http://www.theasthmacenter.org/index.php/disease_information/asthma/medical_treatment_of_asthma/corticosteroids/corticosteroid_use/short_term_oral_corticosteroid_treatment/

You might ask your doctor about this form of treatment. I am currently in remission, but if the symptoms return, I plan to try something like this -- of course I would ask my neuro first to see if there were some reason not to. I already know that I tolerate high doses of Prednisone from having been at 40-60 for months when MG was bad.

Good Luck -- and don't take advice from strangers without first reviewing it with your doctor !!

Hi I was just wondering was there something stressful going on in your life when your double vision and droopy eye flared up ? I found that stressful situations causes my right eye to droop, twitch or my double vision comes back when I feel worried, tired or stressed. I am on 20 mg of prednisone and 60-90 mg of mestinon depending on how I am feeling or if my mestinon wears off my symptoms return, I'm then reminded my MG has not gone away yet .

Rhanson, I have an appointment next week with my Neuro, and I would expect him to give me a much higher dose if I do not have any improvement by then. He did raise me to 10 mg this week, and so far no difference. I tolerate prednisone pretty good, but people need to be careful since going straight to a higher dose can exasperate symptoms in about 50% of MG patients.

Quen, yes this flare up came about 6 weeks after a total hip replacement. Last year, my initial symptoms showed up about 6 weeks after my other total hip replacement. Thank God I only have two hips.......lol....My gut feeling is that my immune system kicks into a higher gear during recovery and physical therapy and this means the cellcept couldn't keep up with suppressing the immune system. But, the catch 22 was that I needed to be off prednisone before the surgery, so I got off it in September.

Rhanson, also I believe I saw the post about the short term high doses from a few years back when I did a google search the other day. If it is the same person, he wasn't on any immusuppresents by choice and got flare ups every 6 months or so. He took prednisone for about a week and then was good to go for another 6 months. I am hoping that since I have been on cellcept for close to a year, I may not need such a large dose.

I'm in a huge does of Predisibe beccuase my stupid insurance denied my IVIG. But someone posted about Stress affecting thier MG. For me it ABSOLUTELY does. It I do too much or I'm worried or stressed my MG goes crazy

In particular when you are on prednisone stress can make things worse. It gets even worse coming off prednisone if you are not tapering slow enough. The reason is that your body needs cortisol to keep your stress under control, and prednisone actually takes over the renal glands and makes cortisol for you. if it doesn't make enough you are in trouble stress wise. A couple hints. Caffeine can make things worse, so try and control your coffee intake. Second, an idiot doctor told me something last year that in retrospect has helped me (Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day..lol). He said "Of course you are stressed. You are on prednisone and that sh*t makes you crazy." Whenever I get stressed I remind myself that it is the prednisone....Afterall, I heard the sh*t makes you crazy.