Hi. Had severe back pain that couldn’t even be touched by aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen or diclofenac.
Immediately (two minutes max) after taking the steroid prednisolone the pain was gone, and stayed gone for 6 hours.
Which tells me that I know a heck of a lot less about inflammation than I thought!

Prednisolone is a steroidal antiinflammatory.
Aspirin, ibuprofen and diclofenac are non-steroidal antiinflammatories.
Both steroidal and non-steroidal antiinflammatories block prostaglandin production.
So why does a steroidal antiinflammatory work when a non-steroidal antiinflammatory fails? That’s the first question.

Miss m says “different ways of blocking”.

Could there be a factor from prostaglandins affecting blood clotting which affects pressure on the nerves? Muscle movement against the nerve?

Histamine causes inflammation, the production of histamine also induces some cells to produce more histamines. Which snowballs. So is there a difference between inflammation caused by histamine and that caused by prostaglandins?

And is it specifically prostagandin-E2 or are other prostaglandins involved?

Is the pain cased by a pinched nerve at L5?

Stretching helped my pain.

Have you seen a physio therapist?

Tau.Neutrino said:

Is the pain cased by a pinched nerve at L5?

Stretching helped my pain.

Have you seen a physio therapist?

Or a chiropractor.

Peak Warming Man said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Is the pain cased by a pinched nerve at L5?

Stretching helped my pain.

Have you seen a physio therapist?

Or a chiropractor.

Or a Spin Doctor?

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Is the pain cased by a pinched nerve at L5?

Stretching helped my pain.

Have you seen a physio therapist?

Or a chiropractor.

Or a Spin Doctor?

What it needs is more eye of newt.

mollwollfumble said:

Hi. Had severe back pain that couldn’t even be touched by aspirin, paracetamol, ibuprofen or diclofenac.
Immediately (two minutes max) after taking the steroid prednisolone the pain was gone, and stayed gone for 6 hours.
Which tells me that I know a heck of a lot less about inflammation than I thought!

Prednisolone is a steroidal antiinflammatory.
Aspirin, ibuprofen and diclofenac are non-steroidal antiinflammatories.
Both steroidal and non-steroidal antiinflammatories block prostaglandin production.
So why does a steroidal antiinflammatory work when a non-steroidal antiinflammatory fails? That’s the first question.

Miss m says “different ways of blocking”.

Could there be a factor from prostaglandins affecting blood clotting which affects pressure on the nerves? Muscle movement against the nerve?

Histamine causes inflammation, the production of histamine also induces some cells to produce more histamines. Which snowballs. So is there a difference between inflammation caused by histamine and that caused by prostaglandins?

And is it specifically prostagandin-E2 or are other prostaglandins involved?

Prednisolone worked for all my pain that nothing else would fix. I’ve only ever taken one bottle of the stuff but I was astounded at the vast improvement in pain relief. Screwed my head up somewhat, I’d fall asleep anywhere and wake up in someones disused car wash on the side of the road.

Peak Warming Man said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Is the pain cased by a pinched nerve at L5?

Stretching helped my pain.

Have you seen a physio therapist?

Or a chiropractor.

Yes, pinched nerve at L5.
What sort, a rack?
No.
Yes. After first chiro visit no different. After second much worse. No third.

> Prednisolone worked for all my pain that nothing else would fix.

Why?

mollwollfumble said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Is the pain cased by a pinched nerve at L5?

Stretching helped my pain.

Have you seen a physio therapist?

Or a chiropractor.

Yes, pinched nerve at L5.
What sort, a rack?
No.
Yes. After first chiro visit no different. After second much worse. No third.

> Prednisolone worked for all my pain that nothing else would fix.

Why?

Who knows? One doctor prescribed a course of 30 25mg tablets for the arthritic type pain that comes with Ross River Virus.
While taking them not only the pain disappeared but also the rash.

Prednisolone is a bit of a wonder drug, also fixes up the pain from inflamed lungs and gives very quick relief for gout. Gotta keep the doses small and for short periods of time though, otherwise can be problematic in that the body gives up on making its own steroids.

I’m finding that prednisolone is already starting to lose its effectiveness after 3 days. Damn homeostasis.