Everytime I was in hospital (because I had MS attack) I was on solu - medrol for a short time like 1 week…
But this week when I said I have blurred vision (just a little bit) my doctor told me that she will give me… PREDNISONE instead of Medrol.
I don’t know why she changed it and I don’t know if it’s bad or good…
When I was on medrol I had not so bad side effects only moon face but now I will be on prednisone for like 2 weeks (Starting on 60mg and decreasing slowly) will the side effects be the same? or worse…
I only wanted to know which one is more aggressive and why she did a change like this (from medrol to prednisone).
I am scared because of… you know… weight gain - I never gained weight on medrol only from water retention it was less than 1 kg (1 kg = 2 pounds) but what about weight gain on prednisone?
She gave me prednisone and said it’s because in 4 days there are christmas and she don’t want me to go to the hospital for christmas.
I heard that there is weight gain on prednisone only when you are taking it for long time and big “doses”…
Basically, you have to be in receipt of a means tested benefit to get free prescriptions, or have one of a short list of conditions that entitled you to exemption. MS is not one of those conditions. If you are in receipt of any benefits (income support, income related ESA, Tax Credits etc) do an internet search on free NHS prescriptions and see if your benefit covers you.
Medrone is the trade name for Prednisolone (which is what Prednisone is called in the U.K., it’s called Prednisone in the US and probably many other places). So essentially it’s the same drug.
Ordinarily for an MS relapse, a prescription of 500mg is given, once daily for 5 days (oral dosage) or 1000mg for 3 days (IV dosage). So it’s quite unusual to be given a dose of 60mg tapering off, although I’m sure there are other people who’ve been given the same.
A 2 week course is not considered to be a long time when it comes to steroids. So you probably won’t get severe side effects like weight gain. But of course, everyone is different.
Still, if on the off chance you do have side effects that make you put on weight, at least you’ll have a ready made excuse for weight gain over Xmas!
