Mestinon 60 mg verses Mestinon XR 180 mg

[MikeS]

I’m currently on the tail end of a flare-up.  I take 40mg Prednisone, 90mg Mestinon 3x/day at 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m., and 180 ER Mestinon at 9 p.m.

The doc wants to wean me  down to less than 20mg Pred (which will take about 6 months), 60mg Mestinon as needed, and remain on 180mg ER.

It’s hard to tell how well the 180mg ER is working, but once remission symptoms are as low as they can go, I might try skipping a night or two of the 180mg ER to assess any difference the following morning.  I should probably try to find a recording O2 Sat monitor and compare before/after stopping the 180mg ER.

Any suggestions?

[W Courtland Robinson]

I took the XR 180 mgs for a while but it gave me leg cramps so I discontinued and rely on my Mestinon 60 mg pills to get me through the night (I take half a pill before going to bed).

[Norm]

As I’ve mentioned, I quickly went back to regular pyridostimine. If I take it every four hours while awake (60, 60, 30, 30 mg) I get the benefits (a quick-acting full-strength dose)and avoid the side effects, such as legs cramps.