Does anyone know how quickly I should be expecting improvement after starting oral Prednisone?

I'm on the third day of a taper. It starts tapering down tomorrow. Should I have felt improvement by now? (there might have been a little improvement in my feet, but my torso feels a lot worse than it did. numbness begins at about the bottom of my ribs...or just below the lumpy bits of my chest area, and travels down on both sides now to my feet.)

I'm already considering (definitely planning on) asking the neuro for the more expensive and pain in the arm IVSM as soon as I get up tomorrow morning. (assuming I can get up)

I feel like I'm wearing a corset around my ribs and stomach and someone is pulling it tighter. The tightness in the small of my back feels a little better (that's moved up to the center of my back), and my feet dont quite feel as numb, and are a lot more tingly...I quit wearing socks because I think the socks were making my feet feel like they were number than they were.

A problem I was having with a certain body function (sorry...TMI) seems to feel like it's gotten a little better.

Basically it feels like I'm more uncomfortable in the torso area.

This really really really <bad word> <bad word> sucks!

I've come to the conclusion that these steroids are not doing anything for me other than giving me insomnia.

Symptoms seem a little worse (the numbness has gone higher just in the last few hours. Up to just below the sternum now...gone steadily higher over the course of today) The numbness is pretty bad in my feet, but if I'm not wearing socks, isnt as bad as it was yesterday.

Calling the neuro tomorrow, and begging for IVSM or anything else he'd give me to try to stop this thing. I dont think I'm sleeping much tonight, even tho I'm exhausted.

I was just using my mom's TENS unit. I was experiencing what I think was THE HUG from HELL! I got desperate and decided to experiment with the TENS to see if it would help.

I put the electrodes from the TENS on the areas where it was the worst and used it for about a half hour. It seemed to help, but now that I've taken it off, the horrible sensation is coming back.

To make everything that much more annoying, the rest of our house guests arrived tonight. I am not happy. They're going to be here for quite awhile, and I feel claustrophobic already. Too many people. (3) One is a 12yr old, and while she is related to me, I'm not real comfortable around children, and right now, not feeling good. It just feels like it's going to be causing me a lot of serious stress right now.

I feel like crap, and now I feel like I have no privacy whatsoever and I have to figure out a way to get my butt to an outpatient infusion center for some juicy 'roids. Oh, and also take care of my mom and her now healing broken shoulder. (not sure the house guests are going to help me with that)

Those house guests, from what I've been told, could be with us a few weeks to several months. This is not going to end well. I can tell. I may have to use my MS as an excuse to pressure them to find their own living arrangements sooner. (hey, at least the MS can come in handy sometimes)

My mom doesnt react well to change and stress, and I can already tell she's having problems. She freaked out that the youngest house guest is sleeping on our glass enclosed deck. (that's gonna be warm in the morning...it's east facing...at least it has blinds and an air conditioner/heating unit on it) She decided to try to sleep in bed with my dad tonight, rather than sleeping on her recliner where she's been more comfortable. Tonight was the first night that I havent had to "tuck" her into her chair. Hope she gets a better night's sleep than I'm going to get.

I'm going to go take my first shower in four days (better take a phone with me just in case. Not totally steady tonight) I'm tired, but I just dont think I'll get any real sleep tonight. Last night it was like sleeping on rocks. Plus, this HUG thing is seriously putting a damper on things like breathing.

Gonna go see if a cool shower helps things. I think I'm going to have my dad put a grab bar in my bathroom this week. (it'd help my mom if she ever uses my potty or has to use my shower. My bathroom is the only one that doesnt have any grab bars)

edited to add:

just in case anyone was worried about me taking a shower at 3am when I'm unsteady and everyone in the house was asleep. I made it in there and out without falling or killing myself. (I was really careful) Only reason I feel any better is that now I'm clean with clean hair. (and cooler too. Might let my hair air dry) I'm still horribly numb and feel like crap, but at least I'm cleaner now...that feels good at least.

Sorry you're still having such a bad time. I've only had success with oral steroids once, and it was a minor flare. It doesn't sound like you are going to improve quickly without the IVSM. I did a 6 moth "push" with IVSM a couple of years ago, and was symptomless for about 3 months after, and only very minor sx for another 4-5 months. That was three days back to back IV's then once a month for six months. It was a pain, but being sx-free was amazing, if only for a little while!

Erin -- sorry you were having such a rough time in the middle of the night. Steroids can increase your anxiety. I have had that crushing feeling around the left side of my rib cage for the past three years. I assume I have permanent damage. At times it is just annoying and at other times, it is horrible. But unfortunately, it is always there. For some reason when I lay down, it bothers me less. Hope you get some relief with IVSM.

Erin, in the past when I took oral steroids, I found them to work within 48 hours. They made me jittery and kept me from sleeping, but they worked.

I am sorry you continue to struggle. hang in there.

We are all diff., but, oral Pred. never worked for me and IVSM only worked once and it took about a week to show good improvement.