Thanks to all of you that have made contact regarding taking steroids at night. Have tried a few nights but don’t think this is for me.
Am back to daytime but am going to talk to the pharmacist to see if there is a better way of managing them with my other medications during the day.
Thanks again for all your helpful input
Amazon 1234
What are you hoping to manage? Steroids are really the only thing that helps PMR. Are you talking about side effects?
I’m really trying to figure out the best way to take my medications. Have never been advised regarding possible effects on or by other medications being taken. The thinking behind separating the steroids from my other medications was to see if I still had feelings of nausea and generally feeling lightheaded. Am going to see my pharmacist tomorrow to see if he can help.
If you are talking about medications you are taking for other things rather than PMR your pharmacist is definitely the best person to ask as opposed to your GP, in my opinion. A lot of GPs are quite limited in their knowledge of drugs generally surprisingly.
I take mine n a piece of banana at around 2 am when I wake, turn over and resettle. They don’t upset my sleep. Jane
I wake reliably in the very early hours. I swallow them then with Lansoprazole. It works for now.
Morning SJ, just a thought but aren't you supposed to leave at least 30 minutes between taking your Lansoprazole before you take your Pred, or any other medication. Hope things are going well,
Thanks Bcol. I must do that, although it has worked so far.
Same as Bcol SJ I take Lansoprazole on an empty stomach and half hour before food and other meds. Hope you’re feeling better.
I’m always awake between 2 & 3 am anyway, & I take lansoprazole with my steroids & take tramadol & paracetamol at that time, too, sometimes morphine. I’ve never heard of taking lansoprazole 30 mins before any other tablets. I take the other lansoprazole at same time as amitryptylline! Guess I’m doing it wrong, but it works!
PIL says -
"Lansoprazole Capsules with food and drink
For the best results from your medicine you should take Lansoprazole Capsules at least 30 minutes before food"
so if you're taking with Pred et al guess you're taking some food... but if it seems to work, heigh ho!
SheffieldJane Bcol , Telian
I put a biscuit in the tray with the oils, but sadly 90% of the time the biscuit isn’t consumed until around 8am…must do better! But the 2nd lansoprazole is taken before a meal…um…but not 30 minutes before!
Don’t think mine was (when I took it) -and hubby’s certainly wasn’t.
..and it does say “best results”…;
It is to allow the tablet time to stop acid production and it will work more quickly taken on an empty stomach. Food slows the absorption down - for obviously reasons ...
I do know…guess I get a little bored of juggling over 20 pills a day/night, each seeming to have its own ‘foibles’! David does dosset boxes for me, as my hands are so bad, but doesn’t stop me forgetting some of the rules! Thanks, S xx
I was wondering if someone would address that. Considering a PPI is to reduce acid reflux it doesn’t make sense to take it except before a meal. I was directed to take it 2x/d before breakfast and before dinner by my Gastroenterologist, long before I came down with PMR.
That's right - and if the problem you have is night-time reflux there isn't a lot of point taking it before breakfast is there?
Well, as part of having GERD and being on a conventional sleep / wake cycle and meals, it was highly recommended I not eat anything after 8 pm. Also to not lay down until a few hours after a meal, elevate the head of the bed (I used 6” x 6” wood blocks) and sleep on my left side. Also to avoid certain foods in the last meal. Have had GERD since the early ‘90s and being on a PPI since then I’ve not had any issues except when I did something stupid with regards to eating late etc. Then 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarbonate in a glass of water is about the only thing that helps.
Obviously, if a person doesn’t have that disease and the acid reflux is due to Pred, I’d take the PPI 30 minutes before the Pred. I never had any stomach upset from taking Pred, even at 80 mg. Whether that is due to my physiology or as a result of being on a PPI 2x/d for 30 years I don’t know.
I take part of my daily steroid dose as coated Pred at bedtime (11pm ish) and the rest in the morning. The theory being that the Pred will be released by the time the overnight inflammation appears. I told my GP this last week and he thought is was a great idea and would pass it on to his colleagues! This paper reckons it takes 1-4 hours for EC Pred to be relased. endocrine-abstracts.org/ea/...
This isn’t new, my Rheumy had me do that when I initially had symptoms of PMR, although I was on non-enteric tablets. I don’t care for the coated Pred because they can’t be cut and their release is slower. In my case he had me take the 1st 1/2 total dose at 6 pm and the other half at bedtime. Once I got near 10 mg he change me to once a day around 6 pm and as I reduced I moved the time of day toward early morning (8 am). The ideal is 1x per day at 3 am but the 8 am worked ok.
To clarify, PPIs (omeprazole, lansoprazole,pantoprazole esomeprazole etc) are absorbed more completely if taken on an empty stomach. Conventionally this is considered to be 30 to 60 mins before a mealtime. They will still work if taken with food but absorption, blood level and therefore effect will be reduced. They can interact with other meds but the list is fairly short and is not the same for all PPIs so if you are taking a med which is contra indicated it is possible to switch to a different PPI.
oh yes, been there, done that, wore the t-shirt often…but I was popular, as I started a competition called ‘how many pills can you swallow at once’! I won that with 12…not good, really as I then needed a lot of fluid to follow that lot down! But it speeded up the medicine rounds!
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