Patient/caregiver was educated on how to take prednisone as follows:
- Take this medication as ordered by your physician. This medication can induce some nausea and vomiting, when taken on empty stomach. Taking the medication with a glass of water along with some food or snack can help avoid these unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms.
- Schedule your morning dose of prednisone at around 8 AM, to mimic the timing of secretion of natural steroid hormone cortisol, by the adrenal gland in the body.
- Prednisone could be prescribed as an oral syrup, regular tablets, extended-release tablets, or skin patches.
- Take the regular and extended-release tablets as a whole. Do not crush or chew the tablet, as it can lead to a rapid absorption of the drug into the blood stream, which can lead to serious side-effects and compromised therapeutic benefit of prednisone.
- If you have difficulty swallowing the whole tablet, report to your physician to see if prednisone oral syrup could be prescribed in place of the tablet. When taking prednisone as an oral syrup, use a measuring spoon/cup to measure the correct dose being taken, in order to avoid risk for over/under dosing.
- Take the medication dose at the same time, every day, as ordered, to avoid forgetting the intake of medication.
- Maintain strict compliance with intake of the medication as ordered, with regards to dosage and frequency, to derive the benefit of the medication.
- Do not change the dose on this medication without consulting your doctor.
- As prednisone intake compromises the immune response, do not receive any vaccines during this period of prednisone intake. With the immunity being low, secondary to prednisone, receiving any live vaccine can precipitate an infection. Secondary to poor immune response with prednisone intake, response to killed vaccines also could not be optimal, thus resulting in failed or poor immunity development.
- As prednisone lowers the immune response, you could be at risk for contacting infections easy. So, observe all control measures to prevent coming into contact with any source of infection. Report to your physician immediately regarding any symptoms of infection noted.
- It may take about 3 – 4 weeks and may be even more, before the optimum response is noted. So, do not discontinue taking the medication without your physician’s consult, as you failed to see the desired result immediately after taking the medication.
- Your physician could change the dose of prednisone, based on the relief obtained from the symptoms and labs ordered on steroid hormone levels in the blood. Any change in stress levels, secondary to encountering any stressful situations, such as, fever, infection, or any serious debility, could also mandate a change in dose on prednisone. So, maintain compliance with follow-up physician appointments, to have your doctor updated. Be accommodative to changes in the plan of care, until you show an optimum response.
- Continue taking prednisone as ordered, for the prescribed length of time, even if you obtain relief from the symptoms for which prednisone is prescribed. Discontinuing the medication abruptly, without physician recommendation, can lead to serious consequences. Prednisone, as it mimics the natural steroid hormone, can suppress the secretion of cortisol from the adrenal gland. Sudden discontinuation of prednisone does not give enough time for adrenal gland to revive the secretion of cortisol and so, can precipitate serious risk of adrenal crisis with grossly low levels of cortisol, which can be life-threatening. So, pulling off of prednisone should be a gradual tapering process and not sudden and abrupt, thus allowing time for adrenal gland to revive the secretion of natural steroid hormone, cortisol.
