GCA and asthma

[karools16]

Hello Everybody. It's 4.20 am and I can't sleep because of wheezing from asthma. Saw Senior nurse, at our surgery, today i.e. Wed, who increased the Pred to 40 mg for 5 days. My question is; returning to my present dose of 3 mg, thereafter, do I have to taper to 3 mg or can I just 'jump' back to 3 mg?? I forgot to ask the nurse, and I don't like to second-guess Pred. dosages. Well, I am going on the nebuliser now, so by the time you read this, I will , hopefully, be in the Land of Nod. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

[polkadotcom]

Can only tell you what I did, but I wasn't nearly at a low dose such as yours. Found I couldn't just jump back but had to do it in stages - really like a fast taper, but it worked well under the circumstances.

Know what you mean about the nebuliser!

[karools16 in reply to polkadotcom]

Thanks for that. Yes, I think I will have to go in stages. My Neuro appt. is next month and he is expecting me to be at zero, but that is not going to happen.I am not made to order.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Theoretically, you can safely go straight back to the 3mg if it works for you - it is your baseline and even if your baseline was zero pred you would have been given 40mg for 5 days and stop. But everyone is different and you will have to see how you go.

[karools16 in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks, PMRpro. I didn't get any sleep, and have chewed 3 people's heads off today with irritability.I might taper before going straight to 3 again as I want to see if the higher dose will help my arms, which have been sore for a while now.

Yes, you are quite right. One size doesn't fit us all when you have Pmr/Gca.