couldsz,

Sorry to hear about the shingles, that must be quite painful.

I don't know any folk remedies for swelling, but I can offer my opinion and experience with prednisone....

I have been taking low-dose prednisone every day for well over a year. I usually take 5mg a day, but sometimes more (up to 10mg) depending on how I am feeling. The reason I take it is for my connective tissue disease (an autoimmune dysfunction that causes body-wide inflamation). The prednisone helps the inflamation/swelling.

My husband has asthma and a ton of allergies, and a few times a year he has to take high-dose prednisone to improve his breathing. When this happens he takes 80mg for 5 days, then 60mg for 4 days, 40mg for 3 days, 20mg for 3 days, 10mg for 5 days, then stops. It really really helps him, and by taking the prednisone he is able to avoid having to be admitted to the hospital. He also uses an Advair inhaler daily which contains steroids.

He also had experience with another steroid called dexamethasone during his chemotherapy. It was given in his IV before his chemo everyday as a way to reduce nausea. He also had pills at home to take as neded for the nausea, and that helped a lot also.

Anyway, I know you said that you did not trust the prednisone, but I thought I would offer my positive experiences with it. Neither my husband or myself ever had any side effects or negative consequences from any of the steroids we take/took.

I hope that your shingles pain and inflamation subsides soon.

Take care,
Liz