Coated pred

[Rosina1871]

Sorry if this sound naive but I’ve looked at my prednisolone and can’t decide if it’s coated or not. Does it state it somewhere on the packet?

[suzy1959]

Yes, it says Gastro-resistant and will have a colour- Red for 5 mgs, black for 2.5 mgs.

[Rosina1871 in reply to suzy1959]

Can’t see anything other than prednisolone tablets. Actavis 🤔

[Soraya_PMR in reply to Rosina1871]

Mine are by activist. “Prednisolone Gastro-resistant Tablets” They’re coated. I assume yours are plain then.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Rosina1871]

That brand is unusually plain uncoated variety. Appearance is matt- almost like an aspirin and is dry to the touch.

I have never taken enteric ones, but I imagine the coating is slightly shiny and smooth.

[Cross-stitcher in reply to DorsetLady]

Basically, if they are flat and have a scored "break-line" (for use with pill-cutters) on one side, they are uncoated. If they are smooth, shiny, rounder (bi-convex) and have no break-line they are probably coated. Different brands are different colours but white or pale yellow or pale orange are also probably uncoated.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Cross-stitcher]

Not sure if this was meant for me, but I know thank you. I took a variety of different doses for 4 and 1/2 years.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Cross-stitcher]

1mg enteric coated is pale yellow.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Enteric coated are red for 5mg, dark brown for 2.5mg and yellow for 1mg and look a bit like small Smarties.

Otherise they are plain white, occasionally pale yellow.

And it will say on the pack or pack insert.

[Rosina1871 in reply to PMRpro]

Mine have red label for 5 and blue for one

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Rosina1871]

I'm talking about the actual tablet colours.

[Rosina1871 in reply to PMRpro]

Mine are all white

[Hidden in reply to Rosina1871]

Then they’ll be ‘uncoated’

The Coated Pred are Red 5mg; Brown 2.5mg & Yellow 1mg

Hope that helps

[Hidden]

What colour are your tablets?

[polymy in reply to Hidden]

My 5mg tablets are red and my 2.5 tablets are dark brown. Have never managed to get 1mg gastro/resistant ones.

[marigoldb in reply to polymy]

My pharmacist ordered in the 1mg enteric coated ones for me.

[Thelmarina]

My packets don’t clarify it all, nor do the leaflets inside, so I assume they are uncoated

[Rosina1871]

Thank you for all your replies. Mine are obviously uncoated

[Linny3]

I use Rayos. One of the ways I can tell it is the coated pred. is by price. Rayos is beyond expensive and the regular is fairly cheap. If I break open a rayos it is different than the regular. My 1mg are white and my 5mg are yellow

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Linny3]

Don't confuse the enteric coated/gastro-resistant variety available in the UK with Rayos/Lodotra. They are completely different things.

[Linny3 in reply to PMRpro]

how are they different?

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Linny3]

The Rayos is delayed release - taken within 3 hours of a meal or with food the coating takes 4 hours to break down and releases the dose all at once, still in the stomach. So tablets taken at 10pm release their pred at 2am so the blood level is highest at 4am. Enteric coated, as its other name gastric resistant suggests, is designed to pass all the way through the stomach as the coating is resistant to the acid conditions in the stomach, and the coating is not broken down until lower down the gut where the conditions are less acidic. This protects the stomach from irritation and means a PPI is not required.

[Linny3 in reply to PMRpro]

I didn't know that. Thank you.