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How long does it take to lose the Prednisone "weight?"

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Posted 9/20/2008 9:36 AM (GMT 0)
Good morning, everyone!  I have been steroid dependent for 2 years.  I have been on 12mg for a long time.  My GI and I are trying a SLOW Pred taper, one mg a month.  I am finally down to 10mg as of yesterday.  (10 more months to go, lol!)

My question is, how long before you notice the Pred weight going away, ie. big belly, moon face, etc.  Did you need to be off it completely, or did you notice the weight start to go away when you hit a certain mg?

Hopefully the taper will go well.  I'm just so tired of lugging around this extra weight and looking like a deformed chipmunk for the past two years.....    Blessings, Julie :-)

Posted 9/20/2008 10:14 AM (GMT 0)
You are not alone!! I hate the prednisone weight and for me so far its been really hard to lose. The moon face though did go away after about 3 weeks but the weight I gained at my waist is still there. Hopefully someone will have some advice for you that I can use too! Take Care
Posted 9/20/2008 11:50 AM (GMT 0)
I've heard 10 mg is the magic dosage to start seeing symptoms disappear. But this is just what I have heard from a lot of people so that could have been coincidence. Maybe you will start to notice soon? Let us know how you are doing on that.
Posted 9/20/2008 1:44 PM (GMT 0)
it takes quite a while. you end up gaining a lot of extra water weight and such from the prednisone. i suggest hitting the gym hard, even now. go on a modified version of atkins (ie carb ceiling at say 80 grams net carbs per day instead of 15) for a few months. this should help shed the pounds. changing your diet from caloric dense food (ie processed/refined and prepared foods) to nutrient dense food (ie real food) should help too. have patience cos it is a slow process.

i never truly lost all the weight until i had surgery and from complications of not being able to eat for my 13 day stay in the hospital i lost like 30 lbs and that was what did it for me. but i dont recommend this drastic route. what i suggested above is better.
Posted 9/20/2008 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you all so much for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated!!:) Blessings, Julie
Posted 9/20/2008 7:22 PM (GMT 0)
I haven't lost any of my pred weight. sadface.
Posted 9/21/2008 2:29 AM (GMT 0)
Well meowese you are not alone not that that makes it any better :)
Posted 9/21/2008 3:01 AM (GMT 0)
WOW! You guys actually lose your Pred weight! ;) Ugh! I'm dreading this one. I saw about 10lbs go at first, but that was it. The moon face went after about a month. I'd cut out your sodium intake as much as possible too, because a lot of what we are dealing with is water retention. I'm right there with you. Have gained 19lbs with it this time. I've been trying to stick to healthy snack options, but that doesn't always work. You don't necessarily need to hit the gym, as much as you just need to do something. Be it walking, housework, or some other activity.

I noticed my acne, and moon face started to disipate some after I went to 5mg. But, then they bumped me back to 30mg quickly after I lost 4lbs in 2 days due to flare. Now, I'm awaiting a clinical trial. I cannot WAIT to stop the darn steroid and take my body back!
Posted 10/2/2008 8:31 PM (GMT 0)
I'm an 18 year old girl recently diagnosed with Susac Disease. My specialist tells me I'm the 15th person in the world to have it, even though the internet claims around 200. I started on prednisone at the end of March. It helps to make the disease I have go away faster, rather than the 5 years it takes. I started off at 60mg and am now on 5mg. The "moon face" for me, started to go away when I went down to 10mg. It didn't completely go away, however. Personally, I didn't really notice but my family and friends did. I stayed at the same weight while my prednisone was being lowered. My moms cousin was also on prednisone for breast cancer. She told me that it took her approximately 6 months to lose the weight, and three-four weeks to completely lose the "moon face." She has a very slow metabolism and always needed to watch what she ate, so my specialist told me that the quicker your metabolism is, the faster the weight will come off.
Posted 10/3/2008 3:42 AM (GMT 0)
I started losing weight at 10mg. Thank goodness...I always puff up like marshmallow man in ghost busters. I have been on and off of prednisone consistently the past two years and know all about the wonderful weight fluctuation. But, if it's the only thing that keeps you in remission, you gotta do what you gotta do.
Posted 10/4/2008 7:10 AM (GMT 0)
confused  can anyone tell me, am i the only fat chrohns sufferer. i so far have not had the weight loss side affect dispite having severe fistulating chrons and surgery.  pred just made me gain more weight and i'm finding it hard to lose can't eat traditional diet food such as salads because of chrohns. my specialist says it is a good thing not to lose weight as i may need it later on but really who wants to be the fat girl with chrohns
Posted 9/19/2012 10:08 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Wendy,

No, you're not alone -- I'm also overweight and have Crohn's. I lost 30 lbs in about 2 months when I was first diagnosed, but I gained all of it (and a little extra) back after being put on Predisone. The moon-face went away about 2 weeks after I stopped taking it, but it's been a month and a half since I've been off it and have had absolutely no changes. I'm relatively careful about what I eat and I work out a few times a week, so I'm wondering if it just completely trashed my metabolism.

If you guys have any suggestions for getting the weight off (going to "real food" generally causes flare ups, so I try to stick with fruit and gluten-free sandwiches -- it's a boring diet), I'd really appreciate it; I'm starting school in a month, and I don't need my weight issues as an added stress :(.
Posted 6/20/2013 6:03 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone! I was wondering if any of you who are having trouble losing the weight have been tested for Cushing's syndrome? It is a simple blood test that tests the level of cortisol in your system, which is raised when you are on prednisone for long periods of time. My gastroenterologist mentioned this to me when I noticed my swelling was not going down and I also had increased bruising.
Posted 8/7/2013 7:19 AM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone, New to this forum
I understand your frustrations. I have been on and off unfortunately more on that off prednisone for the last approx 5 years for asthma and COPD. Unfortunately my body has developed a addiction to it as I hear many others have had to deal with. I have tried to get off of it numerous times over the last year and get to a certain point where my body gets an infection either starting from an allergy or stress or ?? and I am right back on the cycle of having to take an antibiotic and you got it...prednisone again.
The breathing part is what is so scary. Many of you understand what it is like when you cannot breath...in or out and then of course you stress which makes it even worse.
I am currently tapering under Dr.s care and down to 8.5 dropping 2.5 weekly

Looking like I am 7 mos pregnant ( not possibal 62 yrs old) horribal fat roll around my stomach the moon face etc. I am normally a fairly thin small boned woman weight about 125 now I feel horribally bloted and cannot stand this hoping it goes away soon? Got real bad this last time I had to increase because of flair up again....I hate this drug

Good luck to all of you who suffer with this life altering drug. It certainly has changed my life the only good thing is that it allows me to breath. However i am scared to death of some of the side effects such as potential diabeties, chrones, heart attack etc etc.
Posted 8/10/2013 9:02 AM (GMT 0)
hey everyone,currently back on the pred at 20mg (crossing my fingers tht 20 will wrk and i wont have to go up to 40) so with the weight loss with the pred i reakon most of mine is all of the bloody water rentention so i strted out @ 68kgs was on 40mg of roids which basically turned me into wolverine (i swear to god my eyebrows were growing up my forehead) got to 83kgs was off them for about 3-4months down to 73kgs w/o doing much exercise so the 5kgs left over is basically just me getting fat from all the food i ate while on the 40mgs SO im not eating so much now,keep telling myself to actually strt wrking out and combat that preggers belly u get from the roids but seening how my stupid stomach wont stop hurting atm dont exactly feel up to doing some sit ups.
Posted 3/12/2017 11:21 PM (GMT 0)
I was put on prednisone for a year and a half for crohns. it did a lot more bad than good. i have always been a healthy eater, slim and muscular. i gained 50 pounds and haven't been able to lose more than 5 pounds and it comes back. i eat even healthier now and am as active as my illnesses allow. i feel like my body is ruined and i dont know that i'll ever get it back
Posted 3/14/2017 10:15 PM (GMT 0)
You may wish to look into intermittent fasting. It works for me, and giving my guts a rest also helps.
This is not pred specific as I have not been of pred for a long time
Posted 6/22/2017 8:00 PM (GMT 0)
My moon face is beginning to make me depressed. I am still in high school which just makes it worse. I feel self conscious all the time and people do comment on it. When I was still on pred I accepted the face because I wanted to get better, but about 5 weeks ago I went on 10mg and weened down 2.5 a week. I have now been off pred for about 1 week and my face is still very puffy. It is not as much as when I was on the drip but it is enough to make me depressed. After looking on other chats I have started to become worried as many others lost their moonface very quickly. I'm also very bloated in my stomach. Does anyone have a similar experience? Will I lose the face eventually? The situation is beginning to really bring me down. It's hard enough growing up and being insecure anyway, it's another thing having to deal with a fat face and constant reminders of it!!
Posted 6/22/2017 11:24 PM (GMT 0)
@ell2002, welcome! This is a pretty old thread. You may want to "Post New Topic" so you can start your own and others will be able to answer you better. smile
Posted 6/23/2017 2:57 PM (GMT 0)
It took 2-3 weeks for my moonface to disappear after my last dance with prednisone. That puffiness and bloating is water-retention from that steroid. Of course, if you ate like a horse due to prednisone-hunger, then that's weight that you'll have to shed over time through careful eating and light excercise. I gained 12+ pounds on my last prednisone round, and it took 3-4 months to shake that over-eating weight from pred. Good luck, pred and it's side effects suck, but unfortunately it's just part of having IBD.
Posted 7/22/2017 7:20 AM (GMT 0)

Ell2002 said...
My moon face is beginning to make me depressed. I am still in high school which just makes it worse. I feel self conscious all the time and people do comment on it. When I was still on pred I accepted the face because I wanted to get better, but about 5 weeks ago I went on 10mg and weened down 2.5 a week. I have now been off pred for about 1 week and my face is still very puffy. It is not as much as when I was on the drip but it is enough to make me depressed. After looking on other chats I have started to become worried as many others lost their moonface very quickly. I'm also very bloated in my stomach. Does anyone have a similar experience? Will I lose the face eventually? The situation is beginning to really bring me down. It's hard enough growing up and being insecure anyway, it's another thing having to deal with a fat face and constant reminders of it!!

@ell2002 , I'm in your same boat! I'm in highschool and finally tapering prednisone after two longggg years. I'd love to chat with you about your journey since we are both coming off the drug and looking for our "normal" selfs. Would you mind if we emailed?
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