I have gastritis and it's very painful. Supposedly autoimmune as well. I've never been able to take ppi's for my stomach. I was on the coated type of steroid, but as I cut down, I have to have some white ones. My GP says those will make no difference as steroids change the cells in the stomach, it's not the actual tablet going through the stomach that causes problems. However, when I look around the net, many say the white ones are causing problems. Does else know if the uncoated ones have caused anyone else problems.
Never heard a doctor admit that Prednisone changes cells. Would be interested to know more about that. My 3 doctors wouldn't admit it messes with my stomach. Finally last 3 months I think it's been, I'm on Rayos (6mg) and my stomach is a bit better. Also I was taking aloe Vera juice before I ate in morning, but later learned it was lowering my blood sugar too much (I'm hypoglycemic). Chewing gum after I eat has helped keep my symptoms lower as well. I just hope I don't have irreversible damage to my stomach and esophagus.
Also, lying on left side helps and sleeping with torso raised, otherwise my upper back nerves hurt real, real bad when my reflux symptoms start.
im also on Sulfasalazine which can mess up stomach too, ugh.
Jenni, I was prescribed enteric-coated Pred in 5mg and 2.5mg doses throughout my years on steroids until I got to the low doses where I needed to add a 1mg uncoated tablet to the mix to get the required dose. This never caused me any problems, thank goodness, especially as at the outset I was found to be intolerant to all the PPIs prescribed automatically (Omeprazole and Lansoprazole) along with my first prescription of Pred. I took a 'live' probiotic yoghurt and Manuka honey with my breakfast before taking the Pred and this worked well for me throughout my steroid years. However, if you are already experiencing gastritis, and the yoghurt isn't sufficient, there are perhaps other stomach protectors you can try if you haven't already such as Gaviscon, Zantac and Ranitidine.
Yes I have Gaviscon at night. Zantac and Ranitidine also give me problems.
Thank you Layne.
I sleep on my left side too. I have been trying slippery elm which helps a lot, but too much makes me nauseas.
Hmmm - not sure I'd agree with him. In some people the disintegrating tablets can cause local irritation - it isn't just the effect of the systemic presence of pred having an effect on cells. They certainly are unpleasant enough if you are taking a cut tablet and it gets "stuck" - or even whole tablets starting to disintegrate on the tongue.
Amongst the suggestions made for reducing the gastric irritation by pharmacists is to take the tablets in the middle of a meal - eat half your breakfast, take the tablets, eat the rest of your breakfast. You definitely need to have a "proper" amount of food with them - not just a biscuit as many people seem to try - but a glass of milk or the yoghurt we mention so often is also felt to be enough.
I do know there are a couple of people on other forums who have managed to get acid-resistent capsules on the internet and put their white pred tablets inside one and take it at the same time as the normal enteric coated.
I also know there is someone who has used the "dead slow and nearly stop" approach to reduce 2.5mg at a time with success - no need to cut tablets or use white ones. You just have to go about it slowly enough.
Thanks Eileen. I winder do you know what acid resistant capsules are, or where |I can get those?
What is the dead slow nearly stop approach?
I do a 1/4 mg a month as any more and the flares are too hard to manage.
I will test out my theory by going back to 7.5 coated and see if it helpes as well. This may conform the problem, or not. Will get some yoghurt when I am out.
Might try a bigger breakfast
The dead slow approach is described in the replies part of this thread - just scroll down. It means taking one day at a time of the next lower dose - with lots of days at the old dose inbetween. Whether you can manage 2.5mg changes like that depends - the effect of pred lasts for up to 36 hours so having one day at a time on a much lower dose should be OK for most people to avoid developing a bad attack of "steroid withdrawal pain" as it sounds as if you do.
I searched "acid resistant capsules uk" and got links to that well known site that is named after a river/jungle! They appeared on a strip at the top of the page - for some reason Morrison's and Lindt tried to get in on the act with the pictures! You know how some things come in capsules rather than as tablets or pills? It is possible to buy empty capsules and some are "acid resistent" so they pass through the stomach and are then absorbed further down the gut - that is what the enteric coating on the pred pills does.
I have had some improvement to my acid reflux by putting my Pred into plain gel capsules.
My pharmacy does not have acid resistant capsules. I asked the pharmacist if they would be OK to try (buying them online) and he said he didn't know if they would change how my Pred worked as its meant to dissolve in the stomach and not further down.
If gastritis is like acid reflux then I suggest you look back and find the topic Silent Acid Reflux as it and the link in it to a similar topic have lots of suggestions.
I had had some fresh salsa with tomatoes and onions and I've really been paying the price for that. Seems to be taking me several days to recover 
Hum - enteric coated pred is pred that is wrapped up to get delivered further down. The substance is the same. There have been studies looking at doing that to get the pred down to the colon in Crohns disease and the like - to see if that worked better than it being absorbed higher up and only reaching the colon systemically. I don't think it makes that much difference, it just takes longer to be absorbed - up to 5 hours or more instead of 2 hours.
Oh rats - forgot the link:
https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316
Many thanks for that info.
Its lower than the reflux, which I also get. Its erosion of the stomach lining. Im feeling a bit desperate, not being able to take PPI's.
Thanks everyone
Just to add. I have found some capsules and have sent fr them. Thanks
Yes, that is what I was thinking. Perhaps someone on the forum will try the acid resistant capsules and let us know how it worked for them!
The other aspect of the capsules would be it could be possible to use them to take the pred in the eveing so it is working by next morning like the Lodotra I take. You can do it with the enteric coated - they take about 6 or 7 hours to work so you could take them in the evening to make mornings better. Apparently there was a suggestion to try Lodotra against the enteric coated in a study but the Lodotra company wasn't willing. I wonder why not...
If I could get enteric coated I'd be perfectly happy to try it - but here it is a simple choice: Medrol or Lodotra.
Whille waiting for them to arrive, I emptied another capsule with a herb in and placed the white tablet inside. No gnawing pain today. My tum is a bit sore, but I do have gastritis. Its that real gnawing I hate, usually about half an hour aafter I take my pred.
So if this is the way to go, my doctor is not correct to say the tablet its self is not an irritant. Once I get going on the capsules and if it does help I will update in case it helps someone else.
Eileen, many thanks as Id never have thought of that, or even known I could buy some.
I have been putting my white tablets into enteric coated capsules that I buy on line for about 6 months due to similar problems. I also split my dose and take 5mg in the evening and 2 mg in the morning. No more stomach issues and reducing slowly as per dead slow nearly stop reduction. Hopefully the capsules will solve these issues for you.
In Eileen,
another thought.....
2 local pharmacists told me we cannot get enteric coated Pred here in BC Canada. One mentioned that the enteric coated is prednisolone I wonder if there are any issues with putting the white pill prednisone into the enteric coated capsules. There must be a reason that the drug co. is selecting prednisolone and not prednisone for their enteric product?
Any thoughts from anyone would be appreciated!