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Crohn's and Prednisone

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 8/4/2011 4:09 AM (GMT 0)
I am on Prednisone for Crohn's and also Cipro.  Has anyone had the side effects of hair loss, acne, painful arms and legs forget things, but especially my veins seem to be larger especially in my legs and arms.  I hate this Prednisone I am now down to 20mg a day.  Can't sleep and I look like a chipmonk.  Fat belly!  Have been on Prednisone for 6 month.  Going to specialist on Tue he will decide whether to put me on 6MP.  I am tired all the time, no energy.
Posted 8/4/2011 4:16 AM (GMT 0)
I was on it as well. Gained a ton of weight, had a moon face, bad acne, mood swings. I hated it more than anything so I quit it cold turkey which you should never do. My GI wants me back on it a low dose though since im having so many problems but I am debating whether I should or not. One day alone I filled up with 20 pounds of fluid from it and was rushed to the er cuz I couldn't breathe. I personally hate it.
Posted 8/4/2011 6:23 PM (GMT 0)
Pred has a ton of nasty side effects. Personally, I refuse to take it unless it's literally life or death. Plus, I have bipolar disorder, so the mood swings caused by pred can potentially be fatal for me.
Posted 8/5/2011 2:21 AM (GMT 0)
I can not handle Prednisone at all. I was recently on it for 4 months and have gained a ton of weight. I'm not bone thin anyway and luckily caught this flare up before I got extremely sick and lost a ton of weight. But this weight gain is unbearable for me. I can't handle most fruits and veggies and find diets to be incredibly difficult. I exercise like a mad woman and am a preschool teacher so I never sit while at work. The terrible part about the weight gained from Prednisone is that it comes on quickly and takes FOREVER to lose! My face isn't completely round now thank goodness, but my stomach is still swollen. Which boggles my mind how something that is supposed to reduce the inflammation in your intestines can cause your stomach to get bigger.

The side effects I get with the Prednisone besides the weight gain are: mood swings, night sweats, I have arthritis (which could be from long term prednisone use over the last 11 years and/or crohns according to my doctor), and nightmares. A couple of times I've felt like I'm having creepy out of body experiences or it feels like my limbs weigh a thousand pounds. It's hard to describe. Oh, and I get heart palpitations and when my heart goes nuts like that I sweat like crazy. Oh and when I'm in the sun my skin (which normally I tan a beautiful dark brown considering I'm Italian and Native American) will burn almost immediately and I will white welts all over any exposed skin, an incredibly quick and painful sunburn in just minutes.

Oddly I have completely clear skin while on prednisone and once I'm weaned off of it that's when I break out.

I can't stand this drug!!! I do have an incredible amount of hair shedding, but I am unaware what that is due to as it happens all the time, prednisone or not. I am also incredibly anemic normally and having crohns doesn't help since my system likes to dump blood all at once. I can be fine when I wake up and need a blood transfusion by nightfall.

Anyway, good luck jury2 with your appointment and I hope you can find an alternative that will work for you!
Posted 8/5/2011 3:34 AM (GMT 0)
I am the poster child for prednisone side effects even though I was never on a higher dose than 20 mg.  However, I have been on it for 6 months and only now am tapering.  I got ulcers from the pred.  I have pred induced diabetes.  I have to wear compression stockings because of the edema and fluid retention.  I developed the moon face, high blood pressure, gained 30 pounds, my hair loss is severe (about 80%), I don't heal, I have mood swings.  The only thing that has improved is that I don't have insomnia every night.  Maybe just half the time.  I don't know what it's done to my osteopenia, but can imagine.  I had severe joint pain in the sacro region and could barely walk until I tapered down to under 15 mg.  I am now at 10 and hope I can get past the 7.5 level as they say that is the hardest. 

Good luck on the drug.  I hate it but it is what has kept me out of the hospital while slowly killing me.

Posted 8/5/2011 8:07 PM (GMT 0)
hair loss yepp..went crazy too..pred. and i do not play together well.
Posted 8/5/2011 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
I am most def in a minority. I love pred, it makes me put on weight and I look super healthy with shiny hair and nails that grom like mad. I don't shed hair (funny enough that started when I began Humira even though I take folic acid) and the pred gives me huge amounts of energy. I don't even mind the chipmunk look as it makes me look well and healthy instead of skinny. The side effects I do get are good for me like the weight gain, excess energy and chipmunk face, luckily I don't seem to get any of the bad side effects.
Posted 8/5/2011 9:09 PM (GMT 0)
It made me crazy, between the mood swongs and the not sleeping and the periferal nuropathy I hated being near to me, much less anyone else.
I went to entocort and it worked much better for me
Dave
Posted 8/6/2011 2:40 AM (GMT 0)
prednisone sucks. i've been on it forever- whenever i get down to 10 mg or so i flare...trying so hard to get off of it. my wife calls it the *&^hole pll bc i get so mean and emotional sometimes- plus i get the chipmunk face, can't sleep etc...but it helps my crohn's symptoms so i'm between the proverbial rock and hard place...it's rough...if you can tolerate it and it helps then it can be great...but it's dangerous too- my doc is really mad i'm still on it...good luck!
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