Is there such a thing as a safe long-term doseage of prednisone?  My
mother, who suffers from many of the same allergy and asthma symptoms I
do but refuses to take regular medication for them, has developed a
persistent rash that several specialists, who between them have taken 3
biopsies, cannot figure out - neither what it is nor what's caused it.

She has been on several short, tapering courses of prednisone, each of
which has greatly reduced the rash, but within a few days of stopping
each course, the rash has returned.  The current plan from her
physicians is a slower taper, starting at 20mg per day, taken as 4, 5mg
tablets, for 5 days, then 15mg for 5 days, then 10 for 5 days, then 5 mg
for 10 days.  The doctors have announced that if the rash remains under
control while on 'only' 5mg of prednisone for 10 days, and if it returns
when those 10 days are finished, they want her to remain on 5mg of
prednisone per day for the rest of her life.  To date, all her tapers
have gone down to 5mg per day and the rash has been under control until
2-3 days after the last prednisone pill was taken.

Needless to say, I have encouraged all the usual good things be done -
air filters, keeping the windows closed, and actively experimenting with
modern asthma and allergy medicines like Singulair - but all to no
avail.  She is 79 years old and otherwise in reasonable health, a little
overweight but not terribly so.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com