Questions about Prednisone
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March 11, 2011 at 3:35 pm
I went to my rheumy yesterday and he has prescribed a 10 day course of Prednisone, 5 mg. Possible arthritic issues.
I have some questions that I have called the nurse about, but was wondering if someone could answer them here.
1.) I read that you should not abruptly stop Prednisone. If I am only taking this for 10 days, is that an issue?
2.) I read that you should not take this if you have a systemic fungal infection. How would you know if you have this? Would it be obvious?
3.) If your immune system is suppressing viruses, and the Prednisone is an immunosuppressant, does this release the viruses to attack or cause problems?
4.) When you go off it, does your immune system stay suppressed for a while or go back to how it was?
5.) If you might have had GBS, (mine was never confirmed because it was a “mild” case), are there dangers to taking steroids? Could it trigger another attack? I know that you are not supposed to take steroids if you have GBS.
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Jessica H.
“Mild” GBS Nov 2009 after H1N1 vaccine -
March 11, 2011 at 9:56 pm
1.the alternative doc info i gave you does the test for fungal. to be sure, you could ask your doc for nystatin, it is a benign liquid, basically dirt!! that kills fungus/candida.2. i imagine he will wean you over the days till you get to the end. 3. regarding the gbs and steroids, i think it is addressing steroids for the initial gbs attack as a treatment. your issues may be the newly suspected arthritis, residual gbs, or maybe even cidp. if it is arthritis or cidp, it will be interesting to see if the steroids help and in what capacity. perhaps it might even help you get a dx depending on what it does for you.4. regarding your question on steroids/virusus and imunosuppressants. i think you are asking does the steroid allow the body to release a virus that might be in you because now your body can’t fight it off? Well, arthritis, cidp, exczema, allergies whatever, are attacks on particular things in your body, so, the steroids will essentially supress the overactive autoantibodies gone wild, as well as curb the ability for your own antibodies to fight off any new virus/bacteria that you may come in contact. the steroids supress everything, the good antibodies and the autoantibodies. 5. i don’t know how long prednisone stays in your body, i imagine dose and duration is somewhat relative. however i do know that when i asked for kev to get a dose of solumedrol after infusion to help with reactions (his reactions would happen 3-4 days post infussion) they told me the solumedrol would only stay in the system for 24 hours.
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