Hi grecogirl

this is the right way to take these meds. forst mestidone , make certain you eat something with it, then in an hour follow with prednisone,

i have learned that the med works better, and have less stomach problems

best of luck

How many Mestinon do you take a day. I usually take one or two, sometimes three, but not often and sometimes only one. I was to a point where I wasn't taking any at all and had my prednisone dose down, but due to a fall and breaking my elbow, it seemed to send me into a flare and it has been 4 months now and I am just beginning to feel like I am coming out of it and able to reduce my prednisone somewhat. 10 mg a day, sometimes 5 mg. My neurologist told me there really isn't any real pattern with meds that you can count on, so it is a constant battle.

hi.

i only take 30mgs dayly ( Half of a 60mgs pill)prednisone 5 mgs every other day, tus give me the facility to skipp both a day or two when ever i need to fill confortable

also i am taken the following suplements (vit.& minerals) needed for mg.
manganese, choline/inositol, and pantothenic acid(vit b6)

this beleive it or not are needed components for stabilize the werd turns that mg has. i could go into a whole of detailed explanation, but some people that we know, will try to denigrate my explanatiuons
i have taking these elements since the begining, of my mg, and i can say happy that i have done.

best of luck

At the moment I take both Mestinon (60Mg) and my prednisone (5mg) together, first thing when I wake up. Ideally, with something to eat, but not really too fussed about that - breakfast is never far away.

I do not take any supplements whatsoever, never have and never will do. Nothing to get too excited about there of course - I simply can't see the point of getting involved in the need for supplements. I live well, I eat well and I have other things to occupy myself with. My Doctors seem happy with the treatment and so am I. There's no stress in my life and I intend to keep it that way!

As for having a routine: that's for the long-term stuff (immune suppressant). Mestinon is variable and to suit (me). The Prednisone, at such low levels, is little more than a safety net to keep the Neurologist happy (and me).

How long have you been on that dosage of the prednisone? I have been battling this for almost 4 years and it seems when I get down to 5 mg a day. I have a flare. Of course, like I said, this one came on after I fractured my elbow. Now I am taking 10 mg one day and 5 mg the next. My neurologist said I needed to try and adjust as I go along. I doubt that I can go back to 5 mg only a day. Like you, the Mestinon is p.r.n.

This (need for prednisone) is directly linked to the time it takes for long-term immunome suppression to work - anything from 6 months to over a year. Can't fully answer your next question - I don't remember how we arrived at the conclusion to reduce the prednisone, but I suspect it was more related to the effects of mestinon which was also at a high dosage at the time. This was nearly 12 years ago and I think I worked it out for myself - as the Azrathiophine kicks in, it becomes fairly obvious that you are taking too much mestinon and from that the same story for the prednisone. As always, it was discussed with my neuro. Hope that helps.

Peter

I took my prednisoe in the morning along with my first mestinon of the day. My theory on the prednisone was that if I took the high dose right away, maybe by night I could sleep. . The 60 mg dose level seemed to keep me awake and hyper most nights.

The uncertainty is in what is an immediate side effect of taking a prednisone pill vs those we know as long term effects.

I found that when I dropped from 60mg per day to 40mg per day (I did this one day) , that night I slept better. That reinforced my idea that some prednisone side effects were short term related to the pill I took that day, So taking it in the morning made me think that some of the effects of the pill might wear off by night. My neuro neither agreed nor disagreed with my thought on this, but said -- take it once a day. I also read that some folks have upset stomachs from each pill the same day, so taking it in the morning might get rid of those by night time.

Sleeo was a problem when on Mestinon and high dose prednisone. The Mestinon gave me vicious leg, calf, and foot cramps and so I quit taking it about 6 pm in hopes of having less of them. I also did a lot of pre-bed stretching to keep from waking up with terrible muscle cramps. I was taking about 6 mestinon per day to function and decided that the cramps were manageable if the mestinon let me do things while waiting for prednisone to work

Good Luck
Russ

Peter, do you still take azathioprine, or were you able to discontinue it?
- Nan

Nan

I take 75mg each evening (with food). I suspect that will continue, without variation, for the rest of my life irrespective of whatever symptoms I have. Fairly stable at the moment, but still have to take variable levels of Mestinon throughout the day. I did have nearly ten years with just 30mg most days. Now it's more like 3 or 4 (60mg) tablets in a typical day. This since I retired as well!

Peter