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Prednisone and ?'s

My rheum. put me on a 15 day course of 10 mg. Prednisone. 3 pills for 5 days, 2 pills for 5 days, and then 1 pill for 5 days.

Question: at this dose how long might I expect to notice improvement in symptoms, if it's going to help? I know it's not a high dose, but it tends to make me not sleep and get reallllly cranky. So I think she started lowish.

Also......does prednisone work better for rheumatoid arthritis or osteo?

My doc. suspects sero-neg. RA, based on symptoms and x-rays. She said I had joint damage in my feet, worse in my baby toes and in my hips. She mentioned bone erosion and something about tiny holes.....not sure what the porous part means. She said the pred. was sort of a trial....if it helps, it would be another piece of the puzzle.

I've only taken one dose, but after a day, don't feel any improvement. Might it take a few days to help?

What if it doesn't help? Does this suggest it isn't an inflammatory condition? I believe bone erosion suggests RA more than OA, isn't that right?

I'm scared it's going to help.......I"m scared it's not going to help. Either way, I'm not sure exactly what it means.

  1. You should start to feel it in 48 to 72 hours. Three pills of 10 mg each is 30 mg. From what I know, that isn't a low dose for RA purposes. They use higher doses, but usually for other stuff.

    With your porous bones, I would be surprised if they use much prednisone on you since it makes bones even weaker. My x-rays show errosions too and I was told it was due to RA, not OA too.

    It sounds like this second Rheumatologist is doing normal stuff, it just isn't fun to get an RA diagnosis. They could also end up tweaking the diagnosis to something like Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease or Mixed Connective Tissue Disease from sero-negative RA. All that stuff gets muddled together and is basically treated the same way.

    Hang in there.

    1. Thanks ktinflorida,

      I know there are lots of different things in the auto-immune realm.

      If it wasn't RA for certain, but maybe something in the connective tissue disease or something else, would there be a difference in how it responds to prednisone?

      I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I'm scared that it won't help at all and then I'll be back to square one.....or maybe square two. lol.

      1. No, I think anything autoimmune responds to prednisone. I know both Mixed Connective Tissue Disease and Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease does. Lupus does and Scleroderma does. I even think Guillain-Barre does. The prednisone will confirm autoimmune, I think. I don't know if OA responds to prednisone. That might be the experiment they are running.

        It is understandable to be scared. You have a long road in front of you, but it sounds like you found the right doctor and you just have to take it one step at a time.

        1. Hey mamadee, thanks for your question!! Trust me, you're definitely not the only one in our community that is wary of Prednisone and other corticosteroids. I thought these articles might be of intrest to you: https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/treatment/steroids/ https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/youve-got-to-lovehate-prednisone/

          From my experience, steroids work relatively quickly but you still have to give them time. Medications work at different speeds and in different ways for everyone. ktinflorida, thank you so much for your input! It is much appreciated.

          mamadee, please continue to speak with your rheumatologist about your concerns. It sounds like she's a great physician who will work with you!

          Please reach out whenever you need to. A new diagnosis with new powerful medications is extremely daunting. We're here if you ever need to talk! Thinking of you, Monica (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team)

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