My first post on my PMR journey.This forum has an unbelievable depth of knowledge which has helped me understand the condition and the road forward so thank you everyone for sharing your advice.
Just 3 weeks in on 15mg and going OK. But suddenly a backward step in discomfort which coincided with a change of brand of prednisolone.
Has anyone else noticed a difference if they change brand in effectiveness so you always, ask for your 'favourite'?
Yes, this very point has come up a number of times over the years. Your post will have generated some relevant posts on your screen under Relevant Posts. Have a look at those. Any chance of trying the old brand again? Other than that, check you haven’t over done activity.
You can ask for favourite… but it may well depend on pharmacy - they usually go for what’s on offer at the time. But the slightly different fillers do affect some people.
As SnazzyD has said there are related posts to view.
Yes, The actual substance in the tablets is the same but the tablets are made up with different filler substances and they do sometimes affect absorption in the individual patient. I am assuming they are still the same plain white pred tablets and not the enteric coated version which are absorbed at different rates and that can have an effect,
The brand supplied to pharmacists does often vary as the suppliers send out the current "best buy" on the market. You may be able to stipulate which you would like but no guarantees. If the DOCTOR writes the named brand on the prescription the pharmacist is supposed to source that brand - but that is sometimes not possible.
Hi and yes.
I usually receive Accord prednisolone from my pharmacy but once had a different brand that did not seem to work as well as my usual brand.
I notice some of my other tablets seem to change suppliers but it is really the prednisolone that we notice as it has a noticeable effect
The brand seems to change every time from my pharmacy. It doesn’t affect me now as I am still able to use 2.5mg tablets to get 0.5mg drops but I’ve noticed the 1mg vary in shape and size. The almost spherical tiny 1mg tablets I recently had look challenging to split
The 1mg ones I’ve just finished (Strides Pharma UK) had a tendency to split as I got them out of the foil … sometimes into 3 pieces … regardless of what I wanted!
Dear Scoge - during the, almost 5, years I was taking Prednisolone for PMR I did not ever experience 'additional discomfort' or the digestive problems that quite a few PMR people on Pred have described in posts I have read on here.
So why am I responding to your post? -
I believe I have been so fortunate because before I take any medication (pills/capsules - ) I take a 'dose' (a dessertspoon or so) of yoghurt - plain, 'whole', unflavoured, unsweetened, goat's* yoghurt.
(*there's something about the way our cow's milk is prepared that my system just doesn't like cow's milk yoghurt - I get mouth ulcers. )
My, layperson's, belief (I have no scientific or medical 'testable' evidence for this) is that the 'friendly' bacteria in the yoghurt boost the friendly bacteria already in my digestive system and add a protective ' coating' which reduces the effects of some of the 'alien' things in medication which my system is not able to deal with directly.
Finally: The other thing I did which may well have added to my tolerance of prednisolone was to use one of the VERY slow tapering 'timetables' recommended by this Forum's 'Wise Ones' so my system was never challenged by a 'big' drop in corticosteroids.
I hope these observations may be helpful .......
Thank all for your helpful comments.
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