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How Long for Medrol Dose Pack to Work?

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Posted 2/5/2016 12:23 PM (GMT -5)
Hi all!

I started a Medrol dose pack (6 day taper of oral methylprednisolone) on Wednesday. Maybe I'm impatient, but should I be seeing improvements yet? I'm not really...still having blood and mucus :-(. Do I need to just chill though and give it a few more days? My last day on it is going to be Monday.
Posted 2/5/2016 8:07 PM (GMT -5)
I never heard of doing a dose pack for a flare. The only time I have used a dose pack is for treatment of other conditions (tendonitis & poison ivy). For flares it's usually a week or 2 on 40 mg of pred and then a slow taper over several weeks/months.
Posted 2/5/2016 8:11 PM (GMT -5)
Yeah, it may not be enough. It was a quick ditch effort (I think) because I'm pregnant. Maybe my doctor thought this would be enough to knock it out...kind of seems like it's not working that well. I'm not getting worse, but I'm not much better either.
Posted 2/5/2016 10:03 PM (GMT -5)
a medrol dose pack wont do much for a flare at all. it's just a weak form of prednisone and the dose is really low. i think it starts out at 24 mg of prednisone and tapers if i remember correctly. i wouldn't expect great results.
Posted Yesterday 8:23 AM (GMT -5)
When I was pregnant my GI put me on a 30 mg pred taper. He told me that 30 mg and under don't get thru the placenta. I'm not sure a dose pack will be enough. Have you thought about adding enemas to the mix? Maybe the steroid ones will help and they are barely absorbed systemically.

I know how bad flaring pregnant can be. I landed in the hospital while in my 3rd trimester because of the flare so make sure you stay ahead of it. If you don't think the dose pack is helping be proactive and try something else before the flare gets worse.
Posted Today 1:36 AM (GMT -5)

Bacon Girl said...
a medrol dose pack wont do much for a flare at all. it's just a weak form of prednisone and the dose is really low. i think it starts out at 24 mg of prednisone and tapers if i remember correctly. i wouldn't expect great results.

I am not sure where you got that info, but Medrol is the name brand for the oral form of Solu-Medrol. It is actually slightly more potent than Prednisone
20 mg of medrol= 25 mg of prednisone
they have the same course of action but are metabolized differently.

What dose did you start on?
If you have not seen any improvements than you will need to do something else. Steroids should be start working rather quickly
Posted Today 7:43 AM (GMT -5)
Mi have had many flares. The pack worked for me the first time but it never did again after that. To quick of a taper.
Posted Today 10:40 AM (GMT -5)

Dikid said...

Bacon Girl said...
a medrol dose pack wont do much for a flare at all. it's just a weak form of prednisone and the dose is really low. i think it starts out at 24 mg of prednisone and tapers if i remember correctly. i wouldn't expect great results.

I am not sure where you got that info, but Medrol is the name brand for the oral form of Solu-Medrol. It is actually slightly more potent than Prednisone
20 mg of medrol= 25 mg of prednisone
they have the same course of action but are metabolized differently.

What dose did you start on?
If you have not seen any improvements than you will need to do something else. Steroids should be start working rather quickly


Hi there!

I started on 24mg of it (6 4mg pills) and tapered from there. Still seeing a bunch of mucus and a little blood as of today, but I guess that the blood is less than it was. I think this gave me a start, but agree that I will probably need to do something else too. Hooray for small improvements though! I will update the doc tomorrow when I'm totally done. I also have an appt on Friday.
Posted Today 12:22 PM (GMT -5)
good luck!! Feel good!!
Posted Today 3:27 PM (GMT -5)
Never heard of using this med for a flare. It is usually Prednisone taper for at least a couple of weeks, usually longer, tapering off. I would contact the GI dr. and talk to him or her about this. My opinion.
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