Extreme fatigue while on Prednisone

Hi Katie and welcome to HW. When I was on pred and first started it, I remember I used to have knee pain that was temporary. The same happened with Entocort when I was on the full dose 9 mg. Try to bear up with this. It is most probably a side effect but it should subside by time. I couldn't understand the reason you stopped Entocort but it is not systemic like pred and only works in the terminal ileum but both meds entail muscle weakness and fatigue. IMO, another reason of the fatigue could be that you are weak and do not eat well. Malnourishment has always been one of the major causes of fatigue for me.
As for not getting enough sleep, this is a normal side effect of pred. How do you take the 40 mg? Are they divided 20 mg in the morning and the rest in the evening? This will get you insomnia. I used to take Xanax 0.25 mg to be able to sleep. Ask your doc about a sleeping pill. Don't worry, you won't become dependent on it.
Hope you feel better soon:)

Hi minnietoty! Thanks for the welcome. To clarify about the Entocort, I started having a flare again, diarrhea, cramps, and blood. So my GI said that it just wasn't going to work. It is weird to me because I actually felt better on the Entocort than I do the Pred until the flare. As far as my eating habits, I eat relatively healthy. Fruits, veggies, very minimal fatty foods, no fast food, whole grains, yogurts, etc. I had more energy prior to Pred than I do now! It is so frustrating. As far as not getting enough sleep, I must rephrase that too... lol. I sleep too much! I put my son to bed at 8:00, and am in bed myself at 9:00, then don't move until 8 am. I have never slept so hard. I feel energized in the morning... until I take my prednisone, then its back to not being able to keep my eyes open. I take a nap when my son does during the day also. I can't even build up the energy to exercise anymore... I spoke to my pharmacist today since I have to wait until tomorrow before my doctor can return my call (total BS), and she said she has never heard of this issue before. That I should be having trouble sleeping, not the other way around. I take the whole 40 mg before 8 am every morning. Tomorrow I start tapering to 30, and Im getting scared that it is going to diminish my energy even more. Having a 15 month old and no energy is near impossible.. Thanks for your reply :) Why were you having knee pain? Is that normal while taking these meds?

Hi there, I found that the Prednisone made me incredibly fatigued but I couldn't sleep. No matter what I tried. I also had headaches, dizziness, my appetite increased and my hair fell out in huge amounts. I started taking 6MP about a month later and had extreme nausea too. It's hard to tell how man of the symptoms were pred and which were 6MP as it was a while ago but I know that the fatigue started before I was taking the 6MP so that was definately pred.