Prednisone increase for infection

[Caradomben]

Hi I have a chest infection just now and GP has prescribed 30mg pred for 5 days then back to the 1mg I was tapering at. Is this usual in the case of infections

[Yellowbluebell]

Hi, it is acceptable to go up short term for a few days and then drop to your previous dose but usually with a smaller increase than your 29mg hike! Some of the other more experienced will be along to advise whether you will need a very short taper or not. Hope you ste feeling better soon xYBB

[HeronNS]

My daughter in law's father was on pred 8 mg for PMR. He was hospitalized for serious chest problems, can't remember now exactly what it was, but he was given a higher dose of pred than you have been (he's a big man and they thought he might die). I think it might have been 60 but really don't remember. He was quite soon dropped back down to - zero! Until he pointed out that he still needed his 8 mg for PMR!

[miss-philosopher]

Yes I think it is usual. A friend of mine was given 37.5 mg for 5 days and antibiotics for a severe chestinfection. She does not have prm.

[SnazzyD]

It is common practice to go to that level with people with chest infections on top of a chronic condition such as some pulmonary diseases and asthma. They might think there is some sort of inflammatory response in the lungs that isn’t helping. A taper isn’t usually done or it is built in to the 5-10 days of the course. As for adrenal reasons for doing it, my Endocrinologist said to double up with illness, however, I dare say with a severe infection I wouldn’t be surprised if they went higher, though 30mg seems high without coexisting problems, but I’m not the doctor faced with your case. If it was me and I hadn’t been on 1mg long and/or hadn’t had a good Synacthen test previously I’d want some sort of taper I think just in case my adrenals go on holiday again having only just got off the plane. That is just guessing though.

[S4ndy]

I had a chest infection for 6 weeks. The only way I got shot of it was to go to 30mg for 5 days on my gp's advice then back to the previous dose. It worked and it wasn't a problem going straight back to my lower dose. Hope you feel better soon x

[gifford7]

If you have a bacterial chest infection you need an antibiotic; if viral not. Link from NHS:

nhs.uk/conditions/chest-inf... CHEST INFECTION

"Treatment from a GP

Treatment will depend on what caused your chest infection:

a virus (like viral bronchitis) – this usually clears up by itself after a few weeks and antibiotics will not help

bacteria (like pneumonia) – a GP may prescribe antibiotics (make sure you complete the whole course as advised by your GP, even if you start to feel better)

Antibiotics are only used to treat bacterial chest infections. They're not used for treating viral chest infections, such as flu or viral bronchitis, because they do not work for this type of infection.

A sample of your mucus may need to be tested to see what's causing your chest infection."

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It seems to have become a common approach for chest infections, particularly in anyone with a chronic condition. I don't know why - but I suspect it makes it easier for the patient to cough up any gunge that is stuck because of swollen airways,

[AndrewT]

Personally when I 'Up', my Steroid, I ALWAYS 'Taper' back down again. Go back down to ten, fairly fast, but go SLOWER after that- reduce the last 3mg over maybe five days.

AndrewT