hello!
i am in a major flare up. every single part of me hurts....ankles, shoulders, thighs, groin, scapula, neck, arms, hands...everything. Swimming really made it a lot worse. The covering doc for my doc who is away told me to take 20 mgs of pred for 5 days, and that i would nto have to taper off if it is only for 5 days...called it a "pulse pack."
Does anyone have any thoughts on this? i am tempted, esp with Thanksgiving coming. i took 5 mgs for 3 days last week and it did NADA! Only other meds i am on are azulfidine (notworking yet, 8th week) and tramadol, oh, and cymbalta. My blood work is all normal, but i am being treated for spondyloarthropathy based on inflammation seen in MRIs and my response to 40 mgs of prednisone in sept.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Thanks!
Ali
Prednisone is a very strong anti-inflammatory and also known as a steroid. It sounds like you are having a pretty bad "flare up" and maybe a Medrol dose pack would be better than just taking 20mg of Prednisone for 5 days. However,you would have to get this from your physician. Tramadol as an analgesic is okay for moderate pain but I think that for more than moderate pain you might need something stronger. Do you take Celebrex or some type of an NSAID? Have you considered going to the ER if your Dr is out of town? Especially if you are hurting so much?
Lesle
Hi Lesle.
I do not know anyting about Medrol. I will have to inquire about this tomorrow when hopefully she calls me. The pain i am in is probably more of an incredible stiffness/discomfort/charlie-horse type pain than like, shooting/zinging pain, if that makes sense. For example, if i am sitting still, i do nto have that much pain. It is only when i walk, move, hold the phone, well, ok, any type of movement, that i hurt so much. If i jsut lay around useless-like i can make it ok. I only take NSAIDS for headaches, that is all they seem to be useful more in my case. And for that i just take ibuprofin...works pretty well. But for this stiffness they do nothing.
Thank you for your reply and suggestion. I will look into it
Ali
Medrol is a Corticosteroid like Prednisone, and it is started out in a higher dose and tapered off. Like Prednisone it is also an anti-inflammatory. It is used for people with arthritis and a number of other problems. It is not used for long term use as is Prednisone.
Lesle