I am finishing up a two week round of Prednisone - it helped immediately on the first day.
However, while the headaches are not as frequent and not quite as severe, they are not gone, so the cycle is not terminated.

I am hoping they just sort of fade away.

Has anyone had experience with Prednisone - as I wonder what to expect now.

My neuro has agreed to prescribe another round of only 10 mg everyn other day for a week, and then 5 mg every other day for a second week.

thanks,

Joe W.

Most neuros use the pred taper for temporary relief while the other preventatives take the time they need to get to therapeutic levels in the blood stream.

Do you already have oxygen available as an abortive?

Laurie

Same thing here, the preds seem to kill the beast right away. For me after i tapered off last time they returned and it scared the shit out of me. But after a 2nd round of preds and then a detox for the clusterbusters method, that was the trick!! I know they wont keep you long on preds because of side effects but when your getting up to dance 3 times a night you can throw your long term side effects right out the window. If any doctor had even felt so much as a kip 6 he would be eating those little (magic) pink pills forever. Hopeing you feel better soon... Coach Bill

My husband was on it for a year, much of that time at 50mg/day, as well as verapamil and other stuff. He tolerated it better than most ('constitution of a horse') - they just had to check his heart, blood sugar and bones regularly, and once it was doing too much damage they pulled him off it.

We're told he has high risk of a stroke with the CH, so in some ways the prednisone was safer than letting them go. It has a lot of nasty side effects though.

Quote:

Do not take prednisone for long periods. It is a transitional medication,used to prevent attacks until a preventive medication reaches a therapeutic level.
Please do not take this medication that long.
the bb

I stayed on it for almost a whole year once. We talk a lot on this board about "picking our poisons." It was early on in my treatment when I realized my doctor was clueless and I felt he didn't understand my pain. I scored prednisone from oodles of people and stayed on it unbeknownst to him. Hoping I was young enough I didn't do too much long term damage. Hoping he can eventually transition to somethnig a little easier on the bod!

Joe

Joe W,

I have done the pred. taper numerous time's in the past ( actually just finished one last week ).....It has never driven the beast away for myself.....But while i am on my taper (life is good) i get that vacation.....I have heard that some go into re-mission and i am hoping this for you.....Lenny

I am just ending a pred taper, today is the last day. I can feel my eye start to burn again, it's turning red, and out of focus a lot more. Shadows are starting up again. But, it was a nice break while it lasted.

For me, I can use a pretty low dose, I get a taper dose pack from the doc. I take all of the first day pills all at once, and it kills the CH within an hour or so. Then I start spreading out the dose the next days until it's done. I haven't been on one in a couple of years, and I rarely use it, due to the way it affects your body.

For me, I get kind of hyped up on it, I don't get to the point of wanting to shake the crap out of anyone. It bothers my stomach if I don't eat first, and I don't get really hungry when taking it. Although yesterday, I was eating a little more than usual. It does a great job of stopping the high cycle for awhile, and I wish it was feasible to take it more often, but I won't do it.

Please be very careful using pred. It can and does cause damage to your body that is irreversible when taken for a long time, especially a high dose. Or using it (blasting it) too often to kill a cycle.

In having the prednisone conversation we should note that there are different types od pred.

Some here talk of using prednisolone for extended periods.
Dr. Goadsby says: Quote:


Some speak of using methylprednisolone (Medrol Dosepak) for short periods.  It's a 6 day taper starting with 24 mg (6 x 4mg) the 1st day, 20mg the next, then 16mg, 12mg, etc.

Don't get the two confused as the methylpred is much stronger than regular pred (or so I was told by a neuro).

Prednisone made me pain free for those couple of days I was on it, but as soon as I stopped the CH came back, but even worse.  It's like it ticked the beast off.  Furthermore, I gained roughly 15 pounds during that short period.  I've never used it again.  It does work for some though.

I'm on 2nd day of pred taper. Haven't had a cycle for 2 years, before I would cycle every year from Dec thru Jan. I discovered pred on this site I guess about 7 years ago, before that I suffered many many hours of horror needlessly.
The 1st pred taper (60 mg then down by 10 etc,) killed the cycle bang! Every time since ( 4 or 5) I've become more resistant. Last time (2 years ago) I had to go through 3 or prescriptions until finally the cycle ended. Also last time a few hits snuck through.
I'm not much of a hero/ when I'm in a cycle I figure hell with the side effects, anything to stop the pain