Steroid Tapers

[michelew]

My son was started on a Prednisone taper three days ago. I feel as though his symptoms have actually gotten worse. Is this typical, and if so, when should we start to see some improvement? If we haven't seen any improvement yet, is it likely we won't?

[beeskneesmommy]

No, each kiddo is different. Steroids in the beginning, higher doses, can decrease quality of sleep and cause hyperactivity. We all know that lack of sleep can make symptioms worse at times! The one symptom that can increase with steroids are tics. Some kids have a decrease in these and some increase. My son decreased, but they came back down the road. The most significant positive change that I saw in my son was about 5 days AFTER the run of steroids was finished. Ultimately, it's a waiting game and you should not abruptly discontinue them once you have started. There are some kids who respond to steroid bursts with psychosis, but this is relatively rare. I would call your doc, however, to check in.

[pr40]

just to second the previous message, no rules. we saw increase in symptoms after we started prednisone and before we saw any decrease. up and down but downs are not as bad as before. we hope that trajectory would continue.