What time to take medication

[Gaz227]

I brought this subject up in another conversation on here , as I have said a couple of times this week it's all new to me only being diagnosed just over a week . I take 20mg of Pred at 2:30pm everyday , the reasoning behind this is I am normally a night worker , so that is normally breakfast time for me. So I thought keep the drugs at that time even though I am off work at present so when I go back there is no upheaval . I am sleeping ok and my pain has gone , not sure when I will get back to work at the moment it's more the fatigue and dull headache that is slowing me down at present, will the timing of my medication effect the drugs ability to do its job. ?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Hi Gaz227,

What a good question! Most of us on here are old fogeys that are retired so we don't have this problem.

Obviously the "normal" time to take Pred is early morning, mostly with breakfast, but some people take it if they wake earlier, and then go back to bed. Thinking why then - is because the body naturally produces cortisol (natural equivalent to Pred) in the early hours between 2-4am - opinions vary on timing.

I can follow why you take when you do, but question is "are you still sleeping etc as if you were at work?" I would assume probably not, so in that case your body is not getting the Pred when it would expect it. As you know I'm no medical expert, but I guess that may be why you're feeling fatigued. As you don't know when you are going to return to work, then maybe you should try taking it in the morning for a week or so and see if that makes you feel any better.

I know Runrig01 works shifts, so hopefully when she sees this post, she maybe better to answer. Be interest to hear how you get on.

[Gaz227 in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks Dorset lady great reply , I am sleeping ok at the moment and to be honest today I haven't felt the fatigue but I still have a headache and go a it wobbly if I over do it , I did read about taking it first thing in the morning is the correct time but as I said it didn't correspond with my life style, I did some exercise today and still feel fine , it will be interesting to see what my bloods are doing on Monday when I see my GP, I am going to ask to be reffered to a rheumatologist as I am not the so called A typical person to suffer this illness , thanks again for the reply will let you know how it goes .

[jinasc in reply to Gaz227]

What headache and what sort of headache.

Did anyone tell you to watch out for the symptoms of GCA?

[Gaz227 in reply to jinasc]

Hi Sambucca, yes I am very aware of the GCA symptoms , it can be temporal but not intense just a dull ach, no vision problems or jaw pain , keeping fingers crossed I can avoid that area of this illness . Thanks for pointing it out others may not be so aware of the symptoms .

[jinasc in reply to Gaz227]

Keep a very wary eye and I mean that, it could be that the 20mg is holding it, particularly with a dull temporal ache.

In fact, I think I would be asking the question.

Follow this link to the pinned section on this website.

patient.co.uk/forums/discus...

[Gaz227 in reply to jinasc]

Thanks sambucca I will ask the question when I see the GP on Monday

[nuigini]

After a year on prednisone; down from 40 mg to 14 mg; I began taking mine around 1:30 to 2 am about 2 months ago. While I set an alarm, it rarely has to go off because I'm always up to the bathroom around that time.

Apparently this is the optimum time to take prednisone as the body normally releases and builds natural cortisol levels during the wee hours of the morning. It's working well for me. I'm even sleeping better than I have in a year. The problem is having to eat something with the medication. I was using a bit of yogurt, tried walnuts for a while, and now having a couple of digestive biscuits.

[nuigini]

After a year on predisone (down to 14 mg from 40 mg) I recently began taking mine between 1:30 and 2 am. Apparently this is the optimum time because the body naturally releases and builds cortisol in the wee hours in the morning. It's working really well for me. I'm even sleeping better. The only thing I don't like is having to eat at that time of the morning. I try and pick easy things like yogurt, 1/4 sandwich of bread and peanut butter, a handful of walnuts, or digestive biscuits.

PS - I submitted previous reply but it didn't go through for some reason. At least, I don't think it did.

[PMRandRA in reply to nuigini]

lol it did.