prednisilone and UTI infections.

[gillsky8]

Hardly posted for a while as very little to report, but the latest is GP now feels the time is right for reduction from 10mg to 9mg prednisilone.

Here we go again !! Last two attempts at this have resulted in a flare within a week or so, and quite honestly I was quite happy jogging along on 10mg. so watch this space.

In the meantime diagnosed with UTI , yet another issue and apparently is often linked to the use of steroids ?

Anyone else had experience of this please ?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Lots of people complain of UTIs -never had a issue myself… maybe have a look at these posted by PMRpro on subject 0

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

As for tapering in future, perhaps 0.5mg a time and one of the slow tapers we’re always talking about- see FAQs.

[piglette]

Why not try just reducing 0.5mg each time. It may be faster in the long run.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

And to add to what's already been said - not sure I would taper while I still have a UTI.

[diana1998]

I reduced by 0.5mg every 4 -6 weeks from 10mg and as I reduced, the UTIs stopped. No flares. Great relief.

[Zebedee44]

In the early days of pred I had frequent UTIs . I put it down to irritation of the bladder by calcium from the ADCAL (or equivalent) supplement which I discontinued. Now I have about one a year and the GP prescribed VAGIRUX which is a vaginal hormone pessary and that has stopped them. It’s something to do with our bodies being generally drier after menopause if I understand correctly.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Zebedee44]

Apparently using the hormone pessaries reduces the problem greatly - I did write a post about it some time back. But most GPs seem blissfully unaware ...

[Zebedee44 in reply to PMRpro]

It certainly helped me but I have had to discontinue it for six weeks to get a short synacthen test, despite your previous confirmation that it would not be a problem PMRPro. So far no recurrence of UTI.

[AtopicGuy]

As the link below says:

"Most cases of recurring UTIs are reinfections. A reinfection occurs several weeks after antibiotic treatment has cleared up the initial episode. It can be caused by the same bacterial strain that caused the original episode or a different one."

mountsinai.org/health-libra...?

Antibiotics and the immune system work together to kill disease-causing (pathogenic) bacteria, but can never exterminate the very last one of millions. If the immune system is suppressed for any reason (eg. steroids) the bacterial population can bounce back. Sometimes the ones that bounce back have evolved into a slightly different strain. Occasionally, the new strain is more resistant to treatment.