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What Causes Pain In The Chest Radiating To The Neck While On Prednisone?
I have recently been diagnosed with UC and am on Prednisone. The past 4 days I have experienced chest pain that came on suddenly and spread up my sternum to my neck and jaw and between my shoulder blades. I have a Structure just above my navel in the Colon and can feel some pain there. Also my stools are quite thin and I have had few bowl movements for past 4 days.
Tue, 8 Jan 2019
Hi,
You have told that you have been diagnosed recently with UC. Although I can’t judge the clinical picture remotely but according to me, you should try lighter options first including local Mesalamine 2.4 & 4 gm/day and topical Mesalamine cream or enema.
These pose less side effects and is very effective treatment for Ulcerative Colitis. Oral steroid therapy is reserved for the ones who don’t respond to the above mentioned therapy or oral Sulfasalazine/Balsalazine or topical steroids.
You can talk to your prescriber for these treatment options. But don’t stop taking prednisone abruptly as it may pose serious side effects. Recommended is dose taper of 5–10 mg weekly until a daily dose of 20 mg is reached.
At this point tapering generally proceeds at 2.5 mg per week. It is necessary to find the cause of the pain, so you should get ECG, Chest X ray, cardiac markers and may be Endoscopy as well.
The symptoms that you are presenting with might be due to the mucosal injury due to prednisone or GI symptoms related to gastric acid. For that, try following methods :
• Avoid spicy food
• Syp Digene 2 tbs 3-4 times a day
• Cap Lansoprazole 15 mg
• If you feel bloated feeling, take Gas X.
Hope I have answered your queries. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Maninder, General & Family Physician
You have told that you have been diagnosed recently with UC. Although I can’t judge the clinical picture remotely but according to me, you should try lighter options first including local Mesalamine 2.4 & 4 gm/day and topical Mesalamine cream or enema.
These pose less side effects and is very effective treatment for Ulcerative Colitis. Oral steroid therapy is reserved for the ones who don’t respond to the above mentioned therapy or oral Sulfasalazine/Balsalazine or topical steroids.
You can talk to your prescriber for these treatment options. But don’t stop taking prednisone abruptly as it may pose serious side effects. Recommended is dose taper of 5–10 mg weekly until a daily dose of 20 mg is reached.
At this point tapering generally proceeds at 2.5 mg per week. It is necessary to find the cause of the pain, so you should get ECG, Chest X ray, cardiac markers and may be Endoscopy as well.
The symptoms that you are presenting with might be due to the mucosal injury due to prednisone or GI symptoms related to gastric acid. For that, try following methods :
• Avoid spicy food
• Syp Digene 2 tbs 3-4 times a day
• Cap Lansoprazole 15 mg
• If you feel bloated feeling, take Gas X.
Hope I have answered your queries. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Take care
Regards,
Dr Maninder, General & Family Physician
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