Is Prednisone only taken once a day?

Need advise from people who have taken Prednisone

• Well, after a week of severe pain in my shoulder, and not being able to move my arm or sleep, I went to the Dr and was told that I have a severely sprained shoulder. I was given a 20mg dose of Prednisone to take once a day for a week, along with a high dose ibuprofen as needed for pain, and told to come back after the week if my shoulder still hurt. I've never taken Prednisone (or any steroid) before. I suppose it's possible that I've just gotten a bit used to the high dose ibuprofens The first day it actually seemed to work quite well. I'm not sure if that was the prednisone, the ibuprofen, or (most likely) the shock of them both. When I woke up the second day, however, I was in pretty severe pain, took the medicines, and waited for them to kick in, but the pain never really went away. It's the third morning now, I took my dose about 3 hours ago, I'm still in pretty severe pain, and it actually seems to have migrated to the muscles in my arm. Is that crazy? And is Prednisone the type of drug that has to build up in your system for a few days before it works like that, or should I be contacting my Dr and telling them that it doesn't seem to be working? Other than that I haven't really had much of the side effects people usually talk about, except that I'm probably more "alert" than I should be given that I'm also not sleeping as much as usual.

• Answer:

  If I was you, I would call the doctor. Taking high dosages of ibuprofen is not strong enough for a pain killer. Tell him this! The reason I know is that you are in severe pain. If that worked, you wouldn't be. All doctors I have ever been to have never allowed me to be in severe pain. I've had my shares of sprains and strained muscles! The Prednizone should have come with plenty of instructions. It isn't subscribed that often and if it is, you have to know that once you start taking it, you have to continue. A week is not too long, so you don't need to withdraw from it gradually, but I would check on this, just in case. Meanwhile, you may want to put ice on your shoulder to help with pain. Don't lift anything. Don't sleep on it. You may have to sleep in a large chair so you don't turn on that side.