I was taking 40 mg prednisone split in 2 doses am/pm. How to transition to taking all once a day?
Question posted by Free2Bee on 9 Jan 2020
Last updated on 9 January 2020
I was prescribed prednisone 40 mg for severe asthma flare/cough. It is a 12 day taper down.
I was taking 40 mg prednisone split in 2 doses am/pm. I just thought it would be more beneficial this way? Provide more relief throughout the 24-hour period?
I am wondering if it may be better to take the entire 40 mg a day all at once, instead of splitting it into 20 am, and 20 pm. Taking it at night didn't bother my sleep, but, now I just think it might be easier to do it all at once. But -- would the 40 mg once a day be harder on my body?
(My doctor, when he prescribed it, said it's typically a once a day drug, but that he would permit me to split into am/pm doses.)
Any advice on how I would convert the timing from am/pm to once in the am? I was trying to keep the doses 12 hours apart. So, if I took today's second 20 mg dose tonight, would converting to 40 mg tomorrow morning be too much of an increase too soon? Doesn't it mean I will have taking 60 mg within 24 hours if I do that? Should I wait until LATER in the day tomorrow to start taking it once a day? And if so, how much later after tonight's dose of 20 (40 for the full day)?
Added 9 Jan 2020:
I forgot to say that the pills that were prescribed are 5 mg each. It was prescribed this way so I could taper down over the 12 days. So, in splitting my daily 40 mg dose, I was taking 4 in the am, and 4 in the pm. Thought this would be helpful to add to my post.
Added 9 Jan 2020:
Another thing I forgot to add: today (as I post these questions on this site) is only day 2 after I started (I started last night... so today I took am and pm, so I have taken 3 doses but really 1.5 days).
So, I have not started the taper yet! Directions say to start that after 3 days of the highest dose of 40/day
The information on this page reflects personal experiences shared by our community members. It is not reviewed for medical accuracy and should not replace professional medical advice.
Answers
LE
Lesleyann42
9 Jan 2020
prednisolone should always be taken am as soon as you get up never in 2 doses they shock the body into healing hence all at once start asp all in one go dont mess around all must be taken together not split a couple of hrs here and there still wont make any difference they wont work correctly. ( start today all at once) I'm surprised you got any sleep at night and didnt wake up Hungary. Your body makes steroids as soon as you wake that is when it needs to be introduced. Remember to lower dose towards end of coming off 40 mg 35 mg 30 mg and so on until off otherwise you will crash and feel quite poorly. They are not effective in split doses and your very lucky if they have made any difference. Good luck.
Votes: +0
FR
Free2Bee
9 Jan 2020
I appreciate your answer. I have to ask, are you a doctor? Because my doctor is an esteemed pulmonologist and as I mentioned, I asked him if doing 20/20 per day was ok and he said he didn't have a problem with me taking it that way for my course of Pred even though it's typically a once a day drug. Here, I only asked my above question because I thought I'd switch to taking it all once a day anyway, for convenience -- and didn't know if it would be ok to do so within 12 hours (i.e., if I took 20/20 yesterday, the second dose being at night, then would taking 40 the next morning essentially mean I took 60 within a 24 hour period... and I wondered because my daily dose is supposed to be 40).
Since my doctor is back in office today I'll of course be asking him. Again I appreciate your post but it seemed very adamant so, I had to wonder if you are a medical professional.
