OH is having a really tough time and is currently off all RA drugs but on Prednisolone.
He’s been taking 20mg per day for 6 days but is feeling worse than ever. Rheumatology have just told him to double the dose.
Has anyone else had steroids just not working?
I can’t speak for tablets as I can’t tolerate them but yes steroid injections stopped working for me.
Maybe the dose just hasn't been high enough ?
He’s been on 20mg a day - that was the plan for the first 2 weeks and then to taper down. They’ve upped that to 40mg now. How does that sound to you?
Everyone is different, I've been on 20 max, now on 15 mgs per day, but it varies a lot between people.
they’re miracle workers for me and act within a few hours. Perhaps the dose does need to temporarily increase?
Thanks for your reply. What sort of dose have you been on?
only ever low. Highest was 10mg daily
I have tried 2 short courses (a couple of weeks each time) of oral steroids but each time they did absolutely nothing. I have experienced some relief from steroid injections. I have no idea why this is 🤷
yes , sometimes he may need a steroid injection to kick start if not getting any relief, could have something else ongoing like infection , or virus .
We think he did have a kidney infection that kicked all this off, and the reason he came off his biologic was the two lots of antibiotics he took for that. Do you think this could still be having an effect?
Hi , I have just been to hospital today and had to wait 3 was before starting biological, they advised me not to inject if have infection.
Yep. I was given steroid injections when I first began with my RA treatment. They were supossed to ‘tide me over’ until the meds kicked in.
They didn’t make any difference to anything….
Thankyou all for your replies. It’s interesting (and kind of depressing) to hear that both tablets and injections can be ineffective for some people because they’re always kind of heralded as a miracle (if short lived) cure.
Those of you who’ve had steroid injections, has that been targeted at a specific area or for systemic inflammation? And what was the timeline for getting that?
It’s a long time ago, but my bottom may have been involved 😂. Definitely not site specific 😆
😂
You’ll notice on this site that we all react differently to diff meds. For some, one may be marvelous, for another, completely useless. That’s why it’s always best to try things. Good luck x
steroid depot injections ( general - not joint targeted) work like magic for me. For up to 4 weeks . Like having a holiday back to normal life. I haven’t had oral steroids.
I can't have tablet form but steroid jabs into the butt worked well. Since being on Benipali not needed them.
Hi 👋
I started on 20mg of prednisone, but had to cut back to 10mg as I had terrible indigestion with them. But 10mg worked well for me until I was put on Mthx. Since then I’ve had 4 depomedrone injections in the bum and they have also worked like magic, although the last one did take about 5 days to kick in.
I’m really sorry it’s not working for your husband, I hope upping the dose eventually helps.
x
HI Chickenkeeper2015,
Sorry to hear about your OH's issues.
It is sometimes the case that steroids don't work for an individual. Sometimes it is possible the dosage to overcome this, sometimes a change in the administration method is needed and sometimes a change in the type of steroid is needed.
- nras.org.uk/resource/steroids/
However, this doesn't always help and in some cases, there is a need for a different pain killer such as naproxen, co-codamol, morphine etc. Largely his situation is likely down to the absence of any Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs being used to control the RA.
I would strongly suggest reaching out to his rheumatology team for guidance and support with the next steps to controlling the RA and anything else that may be going on. It may also require the involvement of the GP too.
Here are some other resources I hope will be of use to you and your OH.
- nras.org.uk/resource/managi...
- nras.org.uk/resource/managi...
I hope you find this information useful and wish you all the best. Should you require any additional information or support please contact our helpline on 0800 298 7650 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-4.30pm) or email us at helpline@nras.org.uk
Kind regards,
Hannah
NRAS Information and Support Coordinator
Thankyou
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