In need of help: can prednisone work if it didn't before?

Hello,

I'm on Simponi and rectal meds. Simponi had me in 6 mos remission, but now I'm bleeding and in discomfort for a week.

I tried pred (40 mg taper) 3 years ago. It helped for about a week but that was all. Is it worth trying again if it didn't put me in remission the first time?

Other options? (tried imuran, remicade, rectals, gluten-free)

Thanks!

6mp I believe, which didn't help at all. I also tried Uceris when it first came out. Provided zero relief, so I'm thinking steroids just don't work for me.

I've used Prednisone taper before and it did okay, but then I flared up again and Prednisone was prescribed for me again, and it helped me stop bleeding, but my sulfasalazine was increased to 6 pills a day (500 mg tabs) over the course of the day and I have been in remission for 1 1/2 years. My GI doctor said I would be on sulfasalazine for the rest of my life. It is cheap and seems to be working. Drink plenty of water though!

Some people need to start higher than forty mg. also, did you taper off slowly last time? If you taper too quickly, it's very easy to relapse. It's easy to anyway. I don't think I would discount the possibility of it working just because it didn't work in the past. The bottom line is that if simponi isn't keeping you in remission, you will need to find a new maintenance med. maybe there is a chance you can stabilize with steroids and continue with your current treatment but it doesn't seem to work out that way in a lot of cases. What did your gi suggest moving forward?

I'm not sure about the prednisone because it has always made me worse, but if you choose to retry sulfasalazine, start low and work up from there. I had horrible headaches and nausea/vomiting at first so worked up slowly instead and the side effects were still there but less severe. After a while my body learned to tolerate it and now I have no side effects on it. I'm sorry with all the drugs you're on you still haven't found relief. Had you tried any dietary changes? Sometimes that combined with meds work better than meds alone.

about a month but it didn't get me into remission, it worked better than Mexicans though (adagio). LDN was what finally put me into remission.

Prednisone only seems to work at higher doses for me and the symptoms come back when I taper. But at least while I'm on prednisone I can function. Can't sleep and a little scary psycho, but I can leave the bathroom.

At lower doses it did nothing.

I need a higher dose of prednisone too. I think 60 mg for 4 weeks or so. Then I taper 5 mg a week or every other week depending. A lower starting dose or quicker taper doesn't help at all.

Unfortunately Prednisone doesn't work as well as it used to for me. I think it may be one of those drugs that is less effective with time. I usually start to flare again at 15-20 mg.