This past cycle I was given the steroid Decadron as a 15 day taper instead of Pred.  I took my last dose on Christmas morning.   In the past, I have been unable to break a cycle with Pred.  As of right now, I have not had a hit since the second day on the Decadron.   It seems to have worked for me.

Just thought I'd pass it along in case anyone would like to ask their Dr. about it.

Wishing you all a happy, PF 2010!

Jeannie

Edit to add:  generic name is Dexamethasone

My doc gave it to me sometime in 05,06,or 07 (cant remember).....It is a very powerful roid.....While i was on it life was great,my last day on it  ( it was on a sunday) that evening i lost my mind,what i mean i became very slow,my hearing in both ears changed (kind of like when you drive thru a tunnel)which lasted for appr.2-weeks (could not focus).....As an example i recall being at work and working on a spread sheet that normally would take me 15-20 minute's,that day i started around 7:00 a.m. and finished around 3:00 p.m. or so.

  That day when i got back from work i went to take a shower and noticed that there were pimples all over my chest (never had them except for my face as a teenager) later that night they were all over my chest,back,neck,scalp and some on my face.....According to my doc,that is called a steroid acne (never happened to me on pred.) for the next few months i would have to take this ointment and apply it to the affected area's twice a day and use a different one on my scalp.....

  I was like that character on the show taxi (jim ignatow :Dski :D :'( :'() for a few weeks (my doc to this day has no answer for that...sideaffect).....BTW i started to get hammered the following day once i finished my taper.....When this all happened i did post about it on here to warn about it (i just dont know how to retreive it (archieve).....

  I am very happy to hear that you are PF.....Just thought i should share my experience with what happened to myself.....Lenny

Glad to hear your cycle is broken and you are pf!

Decadron is a powerful steroid.  I took it twice with different and extreme side effects each time.  I hope I never get to the place where I would consider it again.  It did work to break those extremely rough, could not function high cycles I was stuck in.

Yippeeee for you Jeannie.  Hope your pf time lasts forever!!

I have to admit that I did not like how I felt while taking it.  I'm glad that I am done.  But I'm also glad that I'm not getting hit anymore....    Could be that I was just finished with my cycle. Either way, I'll take it.

Lenny's new nickname = Reverend Jim.
;D

I have taken Decadron twice both for bee stings.  I am allergic to honey bees and wasps and that tends to control the swelling.  My daughter took it a couple times for poison oak.  She actually took 1 round of it (a week's worth same as I do with stings) then 10 days later, she got into the poison oak again. UGH! So the Dr put her back on Decadron.  Neither of us suffered any side effects.

However

My Dad was given Decadron when he was taking Chemo for cancer(i have no clue what the Decadron does with Chemo).  He was rushed to the hospital with his heart racing and he thought he was having a heart attack.  Turns out, he had chocolate cake while he was on the Decadron and no 1 informed him to watch the sugar intake while on it.