PREDNESALONE & OMEPRAZOLE

[JOHNONE28]

At the moment I am on 2 1/2 mg of pred is it still necessary to take omeprazole with such a small dose of pred ?, also have there been any studies re the treatment of PMR with curcumin ?

[HeronNS]

Why was it necessary for you to take omeprazole before? Many of us never take any medication with pred, merely use food to line the stomach. If you have no gastric problems I wouldn't think you'd need it, but best discussed with your doctor.

This article medscape.com/viewarticle/40... indicates that, "Neither turmeric nor curcumin has been extensively studied in clinical trials". But it dates from 2000.

This looks like interest may be growing: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Use your browser's search function to find curcumin.

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to HeronNS]

Johnone, if you haven't got any history of gastric problems either pre-Pred or whilst on Pred, I doubt you have need of any PPIs such as Omeprazole/Lansoprazole at this stage.

I was unable to tolerate any of the 'zoles', with my stomach reacting badly to both, and my wonderful rheumatologist advised me not to take them. Like Heron, I believed in lining the stomach against the steroids as naturally as possible, and one of the best ways of doing this is by eating a small carton of 'live' yoghurt with breakfast before taking the steroids. Mainstays for me were also Manuka honey with my breakfast, and a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice in warm water as my first drink of the day. With this approach, my stomach remained fine throughout my years on steroids in spite of a high 40mg starting dose.

With regard to "the treatment of PMR with curcumin", the only tried and tested treatment for controlling the inflammation of PMR at this time is steroids. However, curcumin/turmeric is regarded as an anti-inflammatory food, and during my PMR/GCA days we added it to as many suitable meals as possible along with other known anti-inflammatory foods. Certainly if I missed out on my 2/3 helpings of oily fish per week for any length of time, I would definitely notice increasing pain/stiffness.

By the way, well done on getting down to 2.5mg - getting nearer to that light at the end of the tunnel! Still follow the mantra 'slowly, slowly' though, even slower than before, remembering that each drop at these smaller doses is a larger percentage drop than the one before. Good luck!

[JOHNONE28 in reply to Celtic]

Thank you for the considered replys I have never had any gastric problems whilst on preds, but when my gp prescribed 75mg of asprin about 2yrs ago (for an unrelated condition) it was then he suggested the I should take omeprazole (20mg) I was then on about 8mg of pred, but I now think that I will discard the omeprazole. I do take the preds with yoghurt

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I don't take omeprazole at all, never did even when taking ordinary pred/Medrol.

No, there have been no studies on using curcurmin - though several people do use turmeric in cooking and find it helps.

[Sandradsn]

I wondered this,my gp automatically gave me omeprazole when I started on Pred in January.I've been taking it before breakfast and pred every day.I've never had any stomach issues in the past.I usually have porridge with tablets,does the yoghurt have to be 'live'.I'm on 7.5 of Pred now.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Sandradsn]

Most yoghurt is "live" - it would be sour if it weren't! The heat treated sort that keep without being in the fridge aren't live though. I suppose organic possibly has a better quality of culture in it...

[Marcy47]

I am currently on 10mg Pred reducing to 9.5 and taking Omeprazole. This is mainly because I was diagnosed with diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome a few years ago and I don't want to set that off again.