Noticed patients mentioning .05 mg preds. Are the tablets actually prescribed or are they cutting the 1.00mg in half - my GP only prescribes 5.0 mg and 2.5 mg which makes reducing slowly very difficult.
It depends where you live. Even in which country you live in! You can get pill cutters, but they are fiddly.
Are your preds red or white? If red then don't cut.
You can get to 0.5 mg by using a combo of 1 and 5 mgs - thats cutting the 5 mg which should have a grove in it - you can use a pill cutter or a sharp thin knife.
E.g. 6.5 would be half of 5 mg = 2.5 plus 4 x 1 mg.
Hope this makes sense.
Hello Mary, I live in England, and here we have 5 and 1 mgs of the ordinary prednisolone. The 5mgs come with a central indented line so that they can be cut in half with either a pill cutter (always ensure the blade of the cutter is in line with the indent otherwise the cut will not be a true half). Or you can use a very sharp knife.
if I ever get down to .5 then I will attempt to cut the 1mg tablet. But until then it's mixing and matching the 5, the 2.5 (cut tablet), and the 1mgs to make the doses required.
are your 2.5 tablets coated? If they are you cannot cut them. Next time you see your GP, primary Dr ask for a 1mg prescription, you never know, they may be available where you live and it's simply that your Dr hasn't prescribed them to you. All the best, christina
Thank you for your speedy response - my 5 mg and 2.5 tabs. are coated and cutting them is not an option, unfortunately. Will approach my GP again - maybe he is not aware that there are uncoated tabs. to be had.
Mary, uncoated pred tablets are half the amount to purchase as the coated ones. However, although they both do the same job they are absorbed into the system differently. The uncoated ones are absorbed via the stomach whilst the coated ones are absorbed via the gut. The coated ones are normally given to patients that have stomach problems. Regards, christina
This is how Drugs dot com describes enteric coating
Definition: an oral dosage form in which a tablet is coated with a material to prevent or minimize dissolution in the stomach but allow dissolution in the small intestine. This type of formulation either protects the stomach from a potentially irritating drug (aspirin) or protects the drug (erythromycin) from partial degradation in the acidic environment of the stomach.
Prednisolone irritates the stomach, which is why your GP has given you the enteric coated tablets and why we are told to eat something prior to taking the Pred.
Your GP will give you the 1mg tabs if you ask him and show that you understand why he gave you the other
Good luck
Hello Mary
Tablets in Aussie are 1mgm, 5 mgm and 25 mgm prednisone. You can cut them in half or quarter ( is a bit fiddly) to get the dose prescribed or the reducing dose. Can you ask your GP to prescribe a 1 mgm tablet?
all the best
Kathy
You can also use my "dead slow and nearly stop reduction plan" to reduce 2.5mg at a time by spreading the reduction over several weeks. You'll find it in the replies bit of this thread:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
Just slow it down further by repeating steps as required - most people do 1mg at a time, some as little as 1/2mg, but it has been used for 2.5mg too.
Can be very hit and miss even with a sharp knife!!
Hitting your fingers you mean ;-) ?
Pill-cutters are available from pharmacies or on-line - some are better than others. They hold the pill in place and have a guillotine-like action.
Could be Eileen - I really meant the dosage. I tried to cut a 1 mg and both times make a mess of it - ended up with lots of bits and crumbs!! I'm going to use 0.5 mg (using the cut 5 mg with the 1 mg) but also use the 'method' to make it even slower. You know my mantra 'Slow but sure' or slowly, slowly catche monkey!
Your not supposed to hit them!!
I did think of getting my hammer and chisel out but thought it would make even more mess!!