Dose

[Pt54]

Quick question do you take your Prednisone in one dose or in more than one.

[Zoidsburg]

Best taken early all in one dose with your breakfast.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

The recommended approach is all at once in the morning. The official received wisdom is about 8am - but for practical purposes in PMR and other rheumatoid illnesses causing morning stiffness, the ideal time is 2am which allows the blood level to reach its peak just before the inflammatory substances are released in the body at a bout 4-4.30am. This minimises the amount of inflammation actually created and it works far sooner, giving you a better day. A single dose means the peak achieved is higher - and more effective. And it is felt to minimise any side effects because the body is free of pred for longer, instead of topping it up every few hours.

Some people find the effect doesn't last the full 24 hours - it varies from 12 to 24 hours depending on the person - and they may benefit from splitting the dose, taking about 2/3 in the morning and the rest later in the day. The best time to take the second dose would be about 2 hours before symptoms start to reappear - and it may be that a different split works better for you to achieve best symptom control and not interfere with sleep. It's OK to experiment a bit: starting with the approx 2/3 and 1/3 split and working from there would be a good approach perhaps.

[Hidden]

One dose; before 8:00am. Even when I was on 80 mg I took only one dose.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Hidden]

That’s because you have GCA. It always used to be recommended that it be taken in one dose, but PMRpro came across on article a little while ago that found it didn’t make any difference if taken in one dose or split! But I always took mine as one dose in the morning.

[Jim-CJ]

One dose at 8:00AM every day.