Is it ok to mix gastric-resistant and uncoated Pred tablets?

[Preposterous]

I’m in the process of reducing the dose of pred from 15mg down to 12.5 over 4 weeks and have been given 2.5mg gastric-resistant tablets in addition to the uncoated 15mg tablets I already have, which I dissolve in water to take. Does a mix of the two matter in any way?

[Preposterous]

sorry I meant 5mg uncoated not 25mg!!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Preposterous]

Sorry - confused now!!!!

However - the reason they have given you 2.5mg uncoated is because they think giving you 2.5mg tablets is more convenient - and coated 2.5s are cheaper than uncoated. They don't even think about the difference in absorption times and both pharmacists and doctors have tried to tell patients there is no difference! Only about 3 or 4 hours! And there really isn't a good reason why you can't use a pill cutter to halve 5mg tablets.

Do you just disperse the tablets to make them easier to swallow? Why not just cut the 5mg tablet and grind up the lot together.

But sometimes the mix of tablets can work to your advantage and extend the duration of antiinflammatory action. If you still feel fine on the mix, play about a bit to find the best mix for YOU - because that is what really matters.

The coated tablets can be handy if you have early morning symptoms - if you take them immediately before bed, they will be working nicely by early morning.

[Preposterous in reply to PMRpro]

Sorry I was confusing - a spot of mis-typing the numbers! I was originally prescribed uncoated 5mg tablets when I started on a 15mg daily dose, which I’ve been dissolving in water with breakfast. Now I’m to reduce over 4 weeks to 12.5mg a day the GP prescribed the 2.5mg tablets that on collection turned out to be coated ones. I’ll work out a way of combining them according to all the advice here. Thanks!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Now you have asked the question you can see related posts… but the main issue is the time difference taken to be absorbed into your system. Plain ones take about an hour, EC/GR ones take about 4 hours. So you might need to take the GR ones at bedtime, the rest usual morning time.

I’m guessing you were prescribed GR ones because for some odd reason the 2.5mg dose are cheaper than the plain ones… and the soluble ones only come as 5mg.

[Preposterous in reply to DorsetLady]

Yes thank you, the earlier posts on this topic popped up and are very helpful! I don’t know why I got the coated ones having already been given the uncoated ones but probably down to availability. It’s early days (week 1 of slow taper) and no effects from the mix so far but I’ll adjust when I take the coated 2.5 mg one as suggested.

[SnazzyD]

I mixed mine at the end because you can’t chop a coated. I just took the coated ones about 2 hours later to try to get the peaks together because the coated Pred takes 4-5 hours. It would have been nice if that had been explained to you given that they changed the prescription.

[Preposterous in reply to SnazzyD]

Yes, thanks! I'm getting so much more information here than direct from the GP, who so far has just prescribed the various things, leaving it pretty much up to me to figure things out - I've yet to tell him that I don't plan to take the prescribed Alendronic acid until I find out if they are necessary via a DEXA scan...