Accidentally took half of my prednisolone dose!

[Havellen]

Hi!

I am currently on 15mg of prednisolone, a half 20mg pill and one 5 mg pill. I use a "dosett" with 7 compartments for my pills which i refill each sunday. I recently ran out of 20mg pills and got a refill on my prescription! When I was about to fill my dosett this sunday I saw that the seal on my 20mg bottle was not broken, so the whole last week i took only 7.5mg of prednisolone. i think i mixed up the 5mg and 20mg bottles last week! What should I do? I am going to call my doctor tomorrow to hear what they think!

[annekat]

I would call your doc, and in the meantime adjust the dose the best you can.... just start taking what you are supposed to. If you got away with this without it making you feel awful, that is a good sign that your adrenals are not in too bad a shape, I guess! A lot would depend on how long you have been on it and to what extent they have shut down. I'm no expert here, just sort of parroting stuff I've gathered from reading the forum, so anyone may have more helpful words to say.

[pberggren1]

Nothing to worry about. You will be just fine. Just go back to the 15mg. What is your pred taper plan? When is your next drop in pred and by how much? You should be off of pred in about a month or 2.

[annekat]

I'm glad to see that Dr. Phil, who knows more than I do, thinks more or less the same thing. Although if it was me, I would not be off pred in a month or two, at this point. Everyone is different, and you well may be able to do that, as he says.

[pberggren1]

The sooner one can get off pred the better. I bet I will be off of pred in January some time. It was just 10 days ago that I was on 10mg daily and am now doing 10mg every other day and will soon drop to 5mg every other day for a few weeks then just quit.

[annekat]

The sooner one can get off pred the better. I bet I will be off of pred in January some time. It was just 10 days ago that I was on 10mg daily and am now doing 10mg every other day and will soon drop to 5mg every other day for a few weeks then just quit. I'm glad that regimen seems to be working for you, Phil. I flared last winter and would like to avoid that this year so am being pretty careful with my taper. I spend a lot of time outside in the cold and have other stresses involved in trying to make a living with what I create, so it may be a bit more challenging for me, and also considering my age. Since starting to taper I haven't been feeling as well, but maybe I'm just fighting something off and if that clears up, maybe I can continue the taper more aggressively.

[Havellen]

Nothing to worry about. You will be just fine. Just go back to the 15mg. What is your pred taper plan? When is your next drop in pred and by how much? You should be off of pred in about a month or 2.


I am on 15mg now, will drop in about 3 weeks I think! I have no idea by how much, I was going to drop to 17.5mg, but my doctor said I was doing so well, so I could drop to 15mg instead.

[pberggren1]

I hear ya Anne. Better to take it slow and easy if it is not going well for you.

Havellen, I bet you will be able to drop to 10mg soon then 5 then just quit.

[Debbie C]

I'm still taking 5 mg even though the doc. said I can start weaning done to 0, but then I am taking nothing as a back-up and I have alot going on in my life (stress ) that I'm afraid if I stop I'll get a flare. :confused1:

[pberggren1]

You need a special treatment from Dr. Phil, Deb, to relieve that stress......:wink1:

[annekat]

I'm still taking 5 mg even though the doc. said I can start weaning done to 0, but then I am taking nothing as a back-up and I have alot going on in my life (stress ) that I'm afraid if I stop I'll get a flare. :confused1: I'm the same way, although not down to 5mg. yet... I think we have become very good at reading our bodies and psyches and knowing how fast to go, and having some stress in our lives can make a big difference.

[crackers]

after having been on pred for nearly 7 years i'm finally tapering off.i got down to 5mg and was on that for a year but now am tapering 1mg a month.i'm now down to 2 so by the end of the year I will be pred free.i had a hip replacement during the tapering period and was a little worried but it's been fine.as regards mistakenly taking a reduced dose, I wouldn't worry just go back on your normal dose and you'll be fine.
John.

[pberggren1]

I hope you can get off it for a long time John.

[crackers]

thanks Phil.

[mishb]

Wow John, that's great news.

It's been a long time but the New Year should see you pred free, which is fantastic

[crackers]

Wow John, that's great news.

It's been a long time but the New Year should see you pred free, which is fantastic

it certainly has been a long time but I can't think of a better way to celebrate the new year.

[Wegetarian]

Hi!

I am currently on 15mg of prednisolone, a half 20mg pill and one 5 mg pill.

Why are you using the 20mg pills? Wouldn't it be much easier to just take 3 x 5mg pills? When I tapered down to 30mg I was taking one half of 40mg and two 5mg pills but my doc thought it best to take 1x 20mg and 2x 5mg to get an exact dose (they don't always split so nicely in the middle). I think that is a bit paranoid, and left me with a full 40mg jar... but still, its easier when you don't need to split pills.

[crackers]

well my quest to be pred free in the new year has hit a set back.i've been on 1mg for the last ten days but all the old symptoms are starting to rear their ugly heads.severe fatigue,muscle and joint pain are back.i'm having trouble sleeping because of the pain in my shoulder joints and left hip joint when I lay on my side.spoke to my rheumy today and she's advised me to go back on 4mgs for a month and see if it settles down.she doesn't want me to go over 5mgs unless necessary.had my bloods done and infection markers have gone up so it's fingers crossed that 4mgs does the trick.
john.

[Pete]

Hi John,

Hope the 4 mg dose gives you relief from your symptoms. Maybe you'll get to a lower dose that will continue to keep you asymptomatic. Your adrenals may need just a little help.

Good luck!

[crackers]

thanks Pete I hope you're right.
john.