How long does it take for Prednisone to reduce/eliminate symptoms?
Diagnosed with MG a year ago. 60mg Prednisone daily got my out of my crisis and returned me to near normal (swallowing and speaking being main problems). Did not need Mestinon or anything else once the Prednisone kicked in. Since then I have tapered down to 7.5mg daily with no return of symptoms. When I decreased to an alternating dose of 7.5mg and 5mg every other day, my symptoms returned (I was hoping to get to a 5mg dosage).
I increased back to 7.5mg daily but my symptoms had not gotten better after 4 weeks of this so I increased to 10mg daily (with doctor's consultation). After two weeks of this, my symptoms have not gotten any better. Mestinon allows me to eat and helps my speech, but it's not nearly as good as I was when I was at 7.5mg Prednisone daily.
Does anyone have similar experience of how long it takes for a dosage like this to return me to my previous state? My doctor said give it two months. I don't want to go two months only to find out I'll have to have a larger dosage to get back to normal. I want to ask my doctor about increasing to 20mg now to see if that would speed things up but wanted your thoughts before I ask. Thanks for any insights.
I had the sudden onset of ocular MG and got it properly diagnosed after finally getting referred to a neurologist. I was put on a tapering down high dose of pred (can't remember the # of mg now) and the ptosis and double vision resolved in just a few days and hasn't returned. (I am now on Cell Cept due to concerns about long-term use of pred--especially osteoporosis.)
Thanks for the replies. I increased to 20mg 11 days ago with no improvement at all yet. I have a full month before I go back to work (teacher) and have to be able to talk clearly, so I hope it kicks in by then.
I was on 60 mg of Prednisone daily for nearly 3 years. Mestinon was of no help when I was first diagnosed as it did not relieve symptoms this caused a MG crisis. During the crisis I was put on prednisone which worked relatively quickly (In two weeks I was back to almost normal). My doctor also had me start on immunosuppressants (azathioprine) and as the pred dosage was lowered 5mg each time and I was weaned off, the the azathioprine dose was increased (because it takes a while to "kick in"). I've been off the Pred now for 2 years and have been relatively stable with only one flare so far on only 100 mg azathioprine.
I was on 60 mg prednisone for 7 1/2 years before I could tapped to nothing. I am taking mestinon 3 times aday 120 mg each time. I also get infusions of Truxima when im out of remission. The shorts remission was 6 months and my longest was 3 years. Goid luck my friend .
