Hi, I am just reading that a lot of people take their Pred early mornings.. I was never really told or explained on a good time or what time would benifit me better except to take it early morning because it may keep me awake at night. So early morning to me is like 10am.
I am on 40mg a day now. Would it be better to take it like 4am etc, and if so why? and I usually don't like to drive when I do take it.... so some days if I have a morning appointment, I don't take it until I get back, early afternoon. Will this be messing me up ?, because even on 40mg a day, sometimes I just don't feel it works as well.
I am due to have a breast operation in 2 weeks: And after that I would like this all sorted: I have PMR AND GCA for about 3 half months now, started on 25mg then went to 40mg because of the GCA.
My Dr wants to start lowering soon.
Many Thanks Cheers Dea
Hi Dea
I was diagnosed with PMR & GCA in December, 2015. Started on 60mg of pred which stopped all pain. Am now down to 35 + 20 Methotextrate, but am having some recurring pain. I used to take my pred with breakfast, but I found the rush and the shakes made it hard to drive or function. So I now take 25 in morning and 10 at lunchtime, which has helped with the shakes etc, but perhaps this is why my pain is recurring. If you take it too late in the day it can make it even harder to sleep. Everyones reaction is so different, keep a diary and write down all the effects each day, this will help you choose the right path to follow. Good luck.
From good info here, the cytokines which build up daily from PMR, peak at about 2:00am. So to maximize the effect of the cortisol produced by your own body in conjuntion with your pred dosage,
It should be taken around 4:00am. You also have to determine how long your dose lasts for you individually. It can be from 12 to 36 hours. If too short you can split the dose into some proportion of evening and morning so you don't start the day in pain and stiffness.
almost right.... Cytokines have two peaks 4AM and 9AM.. Best time to take pred is 2 hours BEFORE the peaks, thus you have read about 2AM.. For most people that is not practical, so they take it as early in the morning as possible. Alternative is to split the dose in two parts and take one very late at night ( just before bed time) and another one as soon as you get up, ideally before 7AM. Uncoated pred takes 2 hours before it is absorbed. Coated pills take longer, sometimes 4-6 hours.
Your adrenal glands when they worked on their own are most active morning, so yes it's best to take the prednisolone in their absence of working as well at the same time, Morning. So advice is after breakfast take the prednisolone. If you have an appointment or things regularly on a morning take the prednisolone mainly then but leave 10 mg for the afternoon early teatimeish and you won't be as shakes driving etc.
I have found that taking preds before I go to bed works best for me. Taking them.in the morning as most seem to do caused me much pail until they started working however by taking them at night I now wake up relatively pain free and they normally wear off around bedtime when I take my next dose.
Hope this helps.
I would agree that 2 a.m. is the best time to take prednisone before the cytokines peak. It has worked for me better than at breakfast time or evening. I tried both times.
For GCA the dose shouldn't be split, as far as I know.
TO All : Many thanks for the information: I will try and work out which helps me better with the PMR and GCA > Cheers Dea
I guess every one is different. I was DXd with PMR in October 2013 and have taken Pred ever since. I have found it very hard to reduce to less than 6-7mg per day and I have chosen to take the meds in the morning when I wake up (to get up). On my lat DR visit he told me to take 5mg in the am and 2 mg in the pm (around 4:30pm). That doesn't seem to work too well for me so I went back to taking all the meds in the morning. I am awakened each morning at about 4:30am and should probably take the Pred then. I usually wait until about 8am to take it. It them takes me two hours to 'thaw out' to where I can move and be productive. Then I go to work at Noon.
I would take it at the time when you wake up.....4:30 a.m. is better than later ....you don't have to wait such a long time to "thaw out". :-) For me 2 a.m. is the best time, and I happen to wake up for a short period of time, between 1 and 2 am.
I usually feel fine in the morning because when I wake up for the day around 7 a.m.
I could try it at 4:30am when I wake up and then by the time I get up at 7:30am it should be working. Then I can 'thaw out' before I get up for the day. Sounds good to me. I waste those two hours in the morning now because all I can do is drink coffee and read the paper. After two hours my body starts to function and I can go to work and get things done...for a few hours at least.