Skin rash and prednisolone

[Raewynne]

At the moment I have tapered to 6mg Prednisolone. I was having episodes of dysphagia.My cardiologist changed my medication to cardizem. Iam having a really bad allergic reaction.Terrible rash.Blistering Itchy.Cardizem is stopped .I am taking antihistamines and using calamine lotion.I am wondering if I should increase my prednisolone. GP says no .He just wants to get me off the stuff but this rash is terrible and I no I'm immune compromised. He said if I wasn't on it he would be getting me to take 25mg.I don't know what to do.

Would I use the sick day rules?Help please.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Not something we can advise - but I would contact your specialist since I personally wouldn't be happy with the GP's response. If he would use pred normally - why wouldn't you need pred in this case?

[Raewynne in reply to PMRpro]

That's what I thought.

[piglette]

That sounds strange reasoning by your doctor. Don’t give extra steroids to a patient even though you should, because they are already taking a smaller dose. Why he can't just increase the dose seems beyond me. Steroids are a miracle drug and would really help.

[Raewynne in reply to piglette]

It baffles me.!And I feeling so run down.

[piglette in reply to Raewynne]

As PMRpro suggests, can you see anyone else? Could you suggest to your doctor you did a trial on increasing your dose to see if it helped?

[Raewynne in reply to piglette]

That's a thought.

[Raewynne in reply to piglette]

My rash is worse this morning. I've rung my Dr.Now he wants me to increase my prednisolone. Up to 25mg.Seems a bit of a jump from 6mg.Would it need that much?Be hard for me to drop down .

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Raewynne]

He’s probably using it as an acute therapy [it’s often used in skin issues like eczema for example] - so imagine you won’t be at that dose for very long -and if so, then you can drop back down to 6mg or thereabouts easily.

[Raewynne in reply to DorsetLady]

The rash is certainly acute.You think I can drop from 25 to 6mg after a few days.I hope so.I can keep the itching at bay but the rash or hives has a mind of its own.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Raewynne]

No reason why not… so long as you are only on 25mg for a short period .

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Raewynne]

You can drop straight back down after up to 2 weeks - it is often used in allergies and asthma or other chest problems and the dose used may be as much as 40mg. It is the same for you - just your baseline isn't zero but 6mg.

[Raewynne in reply to PMRpro]

That's good to know because it's taken 5 years to get down to where I am .Very slow taper.😕

[jessy99]

yes, I have to bump up periodically for asthma or sinusitis!! If only on it for a week or less I can generally drop right back down, or at least taper less slowly! Feel better!

[Raewynne in reply to jessy99]

Thx How much have you had to bump up to.?When I got sick I usually bumped up 5mg.A week at the most I think.I don't like this rash at all.Its very aggressive so I hope increasing the prednisolone will help.

[jessy99]

they want me on 40mg sometimes (asthma) but I hate that so have done 30mg max and usually not more than 20-25mg. A few days causes me zero issues (& added bonus of feeling better PMR-wise), but last time I ended up on higher doses for 3-4 weeks and have had to taper again. Ugh! Hopefully a few days on 25 mg will knock your rash out and not cause other problems ‘

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to jessy99]

After 3 or 4 weeks you don't need a slow taper though, you can use big steps down to 10mg and then go slightly slower if you were at a lower dose.

[Raewynne in reply to jessy99]

Hope so.thx

[Raewynne in reply to jessy99]

Thx.I am dealing with adrenal insufficiency too.