I have GCA & PMR and am trying to taper from 14 to 13.5 pred.
Over the last week doses have been
fri 13.5, sat 13.5, sun 14, mon 13.5, tue 14 (had a headache so stopped tapering), wed 0 (forgot to take it), Thursday ( today) 13.5 (not sure why I didn't take 14 as had a headache)
It's now 5:30pm in NZ & I normally take the pred around 9am. I had a headache when I went to bed last night & woke up with it this morning. I now have pain across both shoulders.
I had a blood test on Tue & CRP was 1 which is good as normal is less than 5.
Should I take more pred now or up the dose to 14 again tomorrow ?
Written by
Janstr
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If you miss a dose of prednisolone, take it as soon as you remember. If you don't remember until the following day, skip the missed dose.
Do not take a double dose to make up for a forgotten one.
If you forget doses often, it may help to set an alarm to remind you. You could also ask your pharmacist for advice on other ways to help you remember to take your medicine."
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Under the circumstances I would consider taking more now, perhaps half a dose[7mg].
Thanks Gifford7. It's the first time I've forgotten in the 8 months I've been taking them & it was a different day to usual as had to leave home at 6:15am to avoid the rush hour traffic & pick my husband up from the airport. His flight was late so I had bought some brown rice sushi ( the only thing that looked remotely healthy) to eat while waiting. So it's not a normal occurrence. Thanks for your advice.
If you’ve taken a little extra today, it might also be worth going back to 14mg anyway for a few days just to let things settle. Then start your taper afresh.
Most of us have missed a dose - as you say usually if your routine is changed for some reason - but if yo don’t already, then either get a daily dosette box to put them in most pharmacies sell them or Amazon) then you can see that you have taken them. Or put a reminder in your mobile phone.
It’s up to you, but if you are regularly getting a headache then maybe you have gone below the dose you actually need. Of course it’s probably not been helped by the stress of the last couple of days.
You are only a year into GCA, so no point in pushing to get too low- still some time to go!
Your CRP should be low, but that only shows the Pred is working, not the GCA is gone.
Just monitor things and get bloods tested again in a few weeks just to make sure it’s not doing anything strange.
Good luck, and keep us informed please.
Where is NZ are you? My daughter lives on SI on Canterbury Plains.
Thank you. No I'm not normally getting headaches. The 2 this week have been the first since GCA got under control in January. I'm in the NI in Auckland. The Canterbury Plains is a lovely area especially with the proximity to the mountains.
Most of us have managed to miss a dose by mistake. When I did it I swore I would never do it again. I have done it four times now so did not learn, the last two times were in the last three weeks.
The headache has persisted, along with yet another eyelid infection. I ended up going to see my GP today as the headache was centred behind one eye & I was concerned about a GCA flare. She thinks the headache is withdrawal related from the pred free day & maybe also be affected by the eyelid infection ( which she drained) so hopefully will go away in a few days. Meanwhile I am staying on 14mg Pred.
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How early should I take pred in the morning?
Forgot to take preds
How do I know if I have a flare?
Forgot to take Pred maybe for one day
