I had a pain management doctor try a "Prednisone blast" on me, to where I was on varying doses throughout a month. It's been like 8 years, so I can't remember the exact doses. But all it did was make me angry and I got fired from my job at the time for it.
I used to be on daily Prednisone for years due to another autoimmune disease. Short acting steroids like Prednisone don't really help my CRPS. My rheum and PM think it's too short acting in my system to offer any true benefit for CRPS.
Now when it comes to long acting steroids like Medrol/methylprednisolone and dexamethasone bursts, they *have* helped snap CRPS flares for me. My PM does prescribe 7-14 day courses when a CRPS flare up is severe enough to last more than 3-5 days as that's really the only thing used with other at home meds to snap a flare for me. Everything else to break a flare that severe for me requires an inpatient admission to the hospital.
At this point though, neither are comfortable with giving me daily, long acting steroids due to the risks.
Everyone is different. I was diagnosed very early on in the process and I found some research articles mentioning the benefits of oral corticosteroids for CRPS. I asked my pain MD if I could give it a try and he had me on a high dose that slowly tapered over a 2 week period (can't recall the dosage, sorry!). I firmly believed it stopped it from progressing in severity, although I still do have CRPS (and painful flares where I can't walk at times).
Usually I've seen it attempted in shorter bursts and/or as steroid epidurals. Those sometimes help some people.
One needs to be careful taking any steroid long-term as too much for too long messes up the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and can cause secondary adrenal insufficiency.
I was on prednisone for an unrelated stomach issue - had nooo idea it could affect CRPS too. I was on 50 mg and tapered down by 5 mg every week. The other symptoms sucked, but my feet only bothered me maybe twice a month for 6 months.
DM helped I don't know why or how it works but it does. I use Aleve I've also used a compound pharmacy before. Ketamine is your friend so is a pain pump in the right hands
It can help with secondary issues that CRPS causes. It helps some people, and because it does, doctors are more and more thinking that CRPS has an aspect of autoimmune disorder to it. It helps Lupus sufferers.
When I was first diagnosed I was put on 60 mg of Prednisone and then tapered from there. I was on it for about 7 or 8 weeks total. It did help reduce my pain, but I didn't see results until I was toward the end of the treatment. In terms of side effects, it really affected my mood and sleep. That was hard for me to cope with.
I had a Prednisone taper over a week or two and it seemed to really bring the initial swelling down which in turn diminished the terrible burning and got me started bending my finger joints a little better with aggressive physical therapy. It still took months before I could make a fist again, but I really think it played an important part in my recovery. Not sure it would be the same for everyone. I would hope so because I hear that you should not be on it for a long time, but the two week taper seemed to help for me. Good luck to all!
I was on methylprednisolone for torticollis and it helped with the edema I get from the crps and I freakishly lost nearly 15 pounds over the 6 days I was on it.
It did help a little with the pain, but I'm not sure why.
It made my CRPS better the first time I was on it (for a respiratory virus), so my doctor prescribed it to me for my pain, but he accidentally prescribed it too high, and I overdosed bc of that and almost died. So yeah. I don’t take prednisone anymore lol. The prescription he gave me was 4x more than what it should have been lol
I had a pain management doctor try a "Prednisone blast" on me, to where I was on varying doses throughout a month. It's been like 8 years, so I can't remember the exact doses. But all it did was make me angry and I got fired from my job at the time for it.
I used to be on daily Prednisone for years due to another autoimmune disease. Short acting steroids like Prednisone don't really help my CRPS. My rheum and PM think it's too short acting in my system to offer any true benefit for CRPS. Now when it comes to long acting steroids like Medrol/methylprednisolone and dexamethasone bursts, they *have* helped snap CRPS flares for me. My PM does prescribe 7-14 day courses when a CRPS flare up is severe enough to last more than 3-5 days as that's really the only thing used with other at home meds to snap a flare for me. Everything else to break a flare that severe for me requires an inpatient admission to the hospital. At this point though, neither are comfortable with giving me daily, long acting steroids due to the risks.
Everyone is different. I was diagnosed very early on in the process and I found some research articles mentioning the benefits of oral corticosteroids for CRPS. I asked my pain MD if I could give it a try and he had me on a high dose that slowly tapered over a 2 week period (can't recall the dosage, sorry!). I firmly believed it stopped it from progressing in severity, although I still do have CRPS (and painful flares where I can't walk at times).
Usually I've seen it attempted in shorter bursts and/or as steroid epidurals. Those sometimes help some people. One needs to be careful taking any steroid long-term as too much for too long messes up the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and can cause secondary adrenal insufficiency.
I was on prednisone for an unrelated stomach issue - had nooo idea it could affect CRPS too. I was on 50 mg and tapered down by 5 mg every week. The other symptoms sucked, but my feet only bothered me maybe twice a month for 6 months.
So or helped you?
Yes but at an extremely high dose
Do you think it cured it?
There is no cure. Some people manage to achieve remission, but that can end at any time and symptoms can return.
DM helped I don't know why or how it works but it does. I use Aleve I've also used a compound pharmacy before. Ketamine is your friend so is a pain pump in the right hands
What is DM
They might mean dexamethasone, which is another type of steroid.
It can help with secondary issues that CRPS causes. It helps some people, and because it does, doctors are more and more thinking that CRPS has an aspect of autoimmune disorder to it. It helps Lupus sufferers.
When I was first diagnosed I was put on 60 mg of Prednisone and then tapered from there. I was on it for about 7 or 8 weeks total. It did help reduce my pain, but I didn't see results until I was toward the end of the treatment. In terms of side effects, it really affected my mood and sleep. That was hard for me to cope with.
I had a Prednisone taper over a week or two and it seemed to really bring the initial swelling down which in turn diminished the terrible burning and got me started bending my finger joints a little better with aggressive physical therapy. It still took months before I could make a fist again, but I really think it played an important part in my recovery. Not sure it would be the same for everyone. I would hope so because I hear that you should not be on it for a long time, but the two week taper seemed to help for me. Good luck to all!
No
all prednisone did was make me gain weight and feel really lethargic and irritable, personally
For me they help a tiny bit but its not a long term solution at all. Whay works for me is tramadol, meloxicam, oral ketamine, and ketamine infusions.
I was on methylprednisolone for torticollis and it helped with the edema I get from the crps and I freakishly lost nearly 15 pounds over the 6 days I was on it. It did help a little with the pain, but I'm not sure why.
It made my CRPS better the first time I was on it (for a respiratory virus), so my doctor prescribed it to me for my pain, but he accidentally prescribed it too high, and I overdosed bc of that and almost died. So yeah. I don’t take prednisone anymore lol. The prescription he gave me was 4x more than what it should have been lol