I haven't been treated with prednisone or solumedrol but from what I've read and what I've heard others say about their own experiences it sounds way way too extreme. Fast changes can cause exacerbation of symptoms and respiratory crisis. Is his neuro involved in his care in hospital?

Is 240mg of solumedrol equivalent to 240mg of prednisone?

Curt

The biggest concern of my neuros is tapering prednisone tooo quickly. i've been tapering for two months with a decrease once a month starting at 60mg, then 50 mg and now at 40.

60 mg of prednisone is equal to 48 mg of solumedrol according to the calculator online (more than one) so that to equal the 240 mg of solumedrol he would need to be taking 300 mg prednisone. How many times a day does he want to give him the 60 mg prednisone?
b.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I am home from the hospital and have finally had some input from my neuro about the taper. Plus, one of the nursing staff in the hospital spent her own time getting me a conversion from solumedrol to prednisone. While the initial drop from the total daily dose of 300 mg of prednisone (solumedrol converted to prednisone) is drastic, my nurse said that it was very important to get me down to around 60 mg.

I am now through the first two days at 60 mg and am actually doing pretty good. While I knew that a drastic drop in prednisone was dangerous, the doctor assigned to me either didn't, or just made a mistake.

When I re-entered the hospital, the look on the nurses faces and their glances to each other made me understand that they also understood prednisone taper. Unfortunately, I didn't have the conversion from solumedrol to prednisone at that time, and never got it looked up in time.

Well, it cost me several days, but I have learned more, and I won't allow it to happen to me again!

I do have to say that all the nursing staff that cared for me were highly professional and were always cheerful and helpful. Too bad that one doctor's mistake can be so critical.

Look, I'm no expert on the upper limits of dosages for prednisone but 300 mg per day sounds really scary. When I was in a coma, as I remember, the gave me (probably Solumedrol) at about 100 mg and then put me on 80 mg of prednisone. I guess dose may be related to weight. Is your husband particularly large? For reference, I'm about 220#.

Curt

Curt, thanks for your reply! Yes, I was a not too happy to hear that they had gone that high! The good news is that I am back down to 60 mg and am doing pretty good. I would love to get off the stuff, but I think my neuro is being conservative as he ramps up my Imuran.

Thanks again Curt, I enjoy reading your posts and comments.

Bill

Oh, and Curt, just for reference, I am just a few pound lighter than you. So, that makes the high dose seem even more extreem.

I've been given solumedrol once when I was in crises. My Dr (neuro) told me go to hospital. They gave me 80 mg of solumedrol ( then I was an 15 mg prednison ). Dr gave me solumedrol caz I was so weak that i couldn't go thru plasmapherasis. Leater i got 5 days of pheresis and got back home felling a lot better. And my neuro put me on 50 mg prednisone, which I tapered 5 mg every month.