Rheumatoid Arthritis Support Group

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, multisystem, autoimmune disorder. It is a disabling and painful condition which can lead to substantial loss of mobility due to pain and joint destruction. The disease is also systemic in that it often also affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body including the skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and...

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Pred

bigiblue
bigiblue
Well I had a Flare so bad last night and today that I started back on the Pred.30mg for 2 days then taper off the every other day. It truly is the miracle drug.It only took 30 min or less for the pain to go away.It is really hard to stay the supplements when a flare arrives. For those of you who started on Mtx,how long before you saw any improvments, and, has any of you gone into remission on Mtx alone. I still am scared to take any of that, but after this flare I am maybe condidering it.
Bistro
Bistro
I will let you know once I'm off Pred. I'm down to 13mg from 20mg since Sept/Oct of 08. I hope to be off is asap. I love it. I hate it. Good post - thanks!
deleted_user
deleted_user
It took me 5 months before I saw improvement with MTX, but then I had a year of wonderful improvement. I'm one of those that never had the nasty side effects, until I had a rare one that caused me to stop. I did feel like I was close to remission, but part of that was a relative outlook to where I had come from.

My brother started on Plaquenil, which didn't last long, then moved to sulfasalazine. He's fighting going to MTX, too, so he's trying a 2 1/2 week regimen of prednisone, starting at 30 mg. It's only a temporary fix though.

I've been on prednisone for most of 3.5 years, in varying doses. I've been back down to zero 3 times, but circumstances have taken me back. I found that the minimum maintenance level, in the absence of any other RA drug, and in the presence of pain meds, was 20 mg. I needed lots of pain meds, however.

I'm presently back down to 1.0 mg, and will be off it completely one week from today. I've found that I got a bump, the last time I increased, from 2.5 to 10.0 mg, but after I began my slow taper down (from Dec. 2), I've noticed very little difference.

It is wonderful when you get that quick hit with lower doses, but if you don't have something to supplement prednisone, it's a daily grind. And, of course, there are lots of reasons, that you know all about, to not be on prednisone long term.

Goood luck.
SSusieFLA
SSusieFLA
Hi Bigi and all,
I don't understand how the prednisone can help-- but am grateful for the blessed relief- my rheum. gave me one-month's supply, for twice a day till the mtx should kick in- she said I should be helped by the mtx in about a month's time, and then hopefully off the prednisone-
For me, the initial pred injection and now 2xday dose - has been a sanity-saver and a breath of fresh air- have had 2 wks of mtx now, side effects weren't really too bad at all, at this point-
deleted_user
deleted_user
I just want to add, for those on prednisone, to be very careful if you need antibiotics...do NOT take Levaquin or Cipro or any anti-biotics in the fluoroquinolone family. A recent 'black box' warning has been issued on these for possible tendon damage/rupture (which I am currently dealing with).
I will go as far as to say that nobody with RA should EVER take these drugs.