What should the dosage for a steroid burst be?

[tpotter]

Our pediatrician was kind enough to give my DS 14 steroids yesterday, because I told him that we really needed to calm his symptoms down while we wait for the PEX he's scheduled to get, hopefully in the next few weeks. he's also on abx. He would call Dr. L, but she's been a bit hard to get hold of lately, so he did prescribe them. Dosage seems a bit high, and it's not tapered down (like mine are for my asthma.) The pharamacist said that it is usually tapered down. He is on 3 10 mg pills twice a day of prednisone a day for 7 days (that's 6 pills a day...more than my max dosage). The pediatrician wasn't sure how much to put him on, and I don't want overkill. Any ideas? Also, typically, how long is a steroid burst? The only time we have ever done one was a year ago, when Dr. K. was first diagnosing him.

 

Thanks.

[dcmom]

tpotter- I have heard of two type of bursts. Dr L gave my girls a month long tapered burst. They both did 20 mg/day for a week, 10 mg/day for a week, 5 mg day for a week, and then 5 mg every other day for a week. My girls weigh 40 and 60 lbs.

 

Dr K, I believe does a 5 day burst at a much higher dosage per day. No tapering.

 

I believe, steroids must be tapered if you do them for more than 5 (but it could be 7) days.

 

Hopefully a more knowledgeable parent, or one with bigger kids, will chime in.

 

Maybe you could ask the doc for a month long tapering burst?

[lynn]

Hi

 

Not an expert, but DS is 14, 165 pounds and got a tapered 18 day burst as follows: 40 mg once a day for 6 days, 30 mg for 5 days, 20 mg for 4 days, 10 mg for 3 days.

[dut]

Hello

 

Our dd6 (65lbs) got 30mg twice a day for 5 days no taper.

Our ds2 (33lbs) got 15mg twice a day for 5 days no taper.