Low-Dose Steroids Reduce Joint Damage From RA | Arthritis Information

Low doses of steroids can inhibit joint damage when used in the early phase of rheumatoid arthritis, according to a new review of evidence.

High-quality evidence supports combining the pills with standard medications in the first two years after diagnosis. "Such treatment should be made readily available to patients," say review authors led by John Kirwan of Liverpool Women's Hospital in England.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070123212455.htmAfter diagnosis, standard medications prescribed gradually reduce from high to low dose. What do they consider low dose??? I'm on 2mg[QUOTE=6t5frlane]What do they consider low dose??? I'm on 2mg[/QUOTE]

From what I've read anything 7.5mg or below is considered a low dose.This is good news. I was also given the same info from my Nurse Practioner. I'm taking 2 mg Prednisone. Managed to stay off it most of the 45 years of having RA until the last year. I may be making a mistake by not taking Methotrexate or Arava (both of which I have tried), but I can't handle the side-effects. My biggest side-effect was hair loss and I just couldn't deal with it.

I'm aware that Prednisone isn't a real "fix", but I feel it is my choice. For me, it has been a good one so far. When I was younger (I'm now 67) I didn't feel it was worth the risk, but at this age, I just want to feel as well as I can without a lot of sacrifice. I currently also take Orencia every four weeks.

Sharon

I was started out at a high dose and then tapered down. The general rule was they wanted to keep me at 5 mg a day when possible. My preference was 10 mg. So once I remember a bargin of 7.5.

I had several allergic reactions to Arava, MTX, plaquinil, chloriquin phosphate, ect., so sometimes for the allergic reactions I got twenty mg and felt pretty good. They always knocked me down to 5 mg.

I believe I read once that 20 mg a day for two years could prevent or lesson once chance of getting some sort of cancer that is common among those with RA? My memory is not as good as it used to be so forgive me if this is not accurate.

Strange things that happen that make one wonder if they have some undiagnosed condition. Before I was on meds my liver enzymes were elevated. They simply healed as quickly as they had appeared. So some other things happened at that time. My monthy period quit never to return. I was too young for that to have been normal.

I can not even recall all of the what I was going through. A few years later I was talking about it with my GP. I asked him if he thought it was auto immune related? His answer was that they all felt that it was. Of course they had tested me for all other possible causes and came up empty. I remember reading that 20 mg a day would help prevent the liver from scaring in auto immune hepatitis. So I always pushed for twenty. Rarely did they give in.

After the two year mark they yanked the pred away from all together. I thought great I was tired of the side effects and it was hard to get off of the pred after two years straight of it.

Now my jaw swells up and they put me on twenty for a month. I appreciate it. Yet I am shocked as it is the same doctor that kept me at 5 mg for the better part of two years. Happily shocked because it was the humain way to go.