GCA, now mononucleosis, bump in prednisone

[Lucy2013]

Diagnosed with GCA & PMR 3 years ago. Have tapered down to a 1.5 mg prednisone dose. Mononucleosis (wow am I lucky) just evolved and I have upped the prednisone dose to 15 mg for a few days to facilitate breathing. Can I return to 1.5 mg in a few days without a tapering schedule? How many days at 15 mg can I go before I have to taper?

[SheffieldJane]

That’s a question that I would take to my doctor, instinct says it would probably work though.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I think about 10 days is the maximum to just drop back to the original dose - but at the very start of pred I was given 6 weeks of pred, 2 weeks each of 15/10/5 and stop and that is fairly standard. If you felt you needed a bit longer you could do a week each of the doses - at 1.5mg you must be doing fairly well (apart form the mono!) . Just don;t let someone tell you to drop to zero because they haven't noticed your baseline is a bit higher!

[Lucy2013 in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for everyone's response. Doing fairly well with the GCA, i.e. the inflammation markers are stable and within normal limits and I still work a full-time job. However 2-days on pred, my knees and back issues are greatly improved. So it is possible I am a bit low on the pred, but the knees do need a new model upgrade and I did fracture a vertebrae about 25 yrs ago that left me with some discomfort. BTW, I never heard of an almost 70-year old person getting mono. Want to blame my GCA and a recent cortisone shot to the knee for lowering my immune system.

[Slosh in reply to Lucy2013]

It may have just re-activated the Epstein Barr virus. Take extra care nutritionally and rest a lot.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Slosh]

I was reading an article the other day that reckoned well over 90% of us have had EBV at some point although many of us didn't know it at the time.

[Slosh in reply to PMRpro]

Very likely. I had it at 19. Took a while to diagnose. I told my doc that Ithought I was a hypochondriac because I felt sick everyday and rand a low grade fever ever evening. I had no swollen glands. I often have atypical symptoms with things.

Feel like I’ve had it again post Covid. Same symptoms but just twinges in glands. But could be anything I suppose.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Slosh]

I had something like that in my mid-20s but EBV was negative - in retrospect, it did fit the start of ME though, which was still "yuppy flu" at that time, though it was at the short end of the spectrum, it resolved in about 6 months. I know several PMR people with a similar history - which always intrigues me.

[Luciejc in reply to Lucy2013]

Did you recently get a COVID booster?

[Ronzy in reply to PMRpro]

Yes I feel they won’t let you rest a while give pred it’s time to really help things, yes at least 6week .but I’m just a nobody really. Last time with pmr had a fantastic doctor,Every time I saw him he would say ho you must never be without these meaning Prednisone and give me lots more ,I had a rite old stash 😊

For mounts I felt absolutely fantastic Hiking like a trogon ,badminton, table tennis

But I must stress I feel very lucky to have been able to keep myself quiet fit after retirement 18 years ago when I reached 75. Yes so I am now 83 still playing a little

Badminton and table tennis at what we call the owls

My philosophy is to do what I can while I can .

Sorry I’m rambling on a bit

But is pred really as bad as Doctors make out I don’t think so , hope not

Is there masses of people getting Diabetes cos on pred ,that’s the big one they try and scare us with.

That’s my little rant folks.

Wishing you all the very best

🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Ronzy]

Not really as many cases of steroid induced diabetes as they seem to think. It helps to cut the amounts of carbs you eat - lots of stories on the forum about getting the Hba1c test back to normal sort of levels by doing that. MrsNails has a really good story about being pre-diabetic and getting it back to a good level as well as losing weight.