New here, Prednisone anyone?

Hi, my name is Rick and I was diagnosed with Chrohn's 8 years ago. Im 42 now and just had a massive flare up due to extreme stress (I wont get into the details of that right now, but it was a major stressful event).

When I was first diagnosed my flares we're relative short for the first 3 years and would go away on mild medication, I used a short burst of 6-MP which I was later able to get off completely and Asacol which didnt seem to be effective at all.

This latest flare has been accompanied by moderate pain which was a relatively new symptom as I didnt have lasting pain before, but did have the usual symptoms of diarrhea and blood.

I was prescribed Prednisone to treat this flare, but it has seriously f*@# me up! (sorry for the language!) I started at 40 mg for 2 weeks and was suppose to taper down 5mg every week. After the first 2 weeks the side effects got really really horrible. Insomnia, hot flashes, joint pains, eye problems, anxiety and the worst one is the ringing in my ears. Its so bad I can barely function on bad days.

After talking with my GI, he cut me down to 20mg (I was starting 30mg for 7 days) and taper off every 3 to 7 days depending on how I feel.

I'd love to hear people's experiences. has anyone ever had ringing in their ears as a side effect? If not for that some days I'd be pretty ok.

Thanks and nice to meet everyone!

Thanks for the welcome! I did have a colonoscopy and blood work done before going on the prednisone. The biopsies showed mild chrohns. The GI put me on Prednisone the day of the colonoscopy as he saw some inflammation in the GI tract. We're weaning off the Prednisone and seeing how it goes at that point.

Hi Nomad,
Depending where the inflammation is it might be worth asking your doctor about replacing the pred with Entocort. It has less side effects for most people. Good luck!

Thanks everyone for your posts.

Right now it seems like the inflammation is going down from what the GI told me, I had 2 CT scans 3 week apart and a colonoscopy in between. The main focus is to get me off the Prednisone since the side effects seem to be worse than the actual flare, seriously, I preferred the pain than feeling like I'm dying/cant function... I understand though, that when the situation merits it in severe/moderate flares, than you got to do what you got to do. It might be that 40mg was way to high for me and would have benefited at a lower dose or quicker taper, I dont know really. I'm following my GI's advice and following symptoms closely, Im sure we will take into account all blood/stool tests and symptoms and see what's best for me then. I do trust my GI, he is really great and understanding.

@Nomad - that's great that you were able to be med-free and in remission for so long. :) I just wonder since this is such a bad flare for you and having the steroids be hard on you, it might be worth a lower maintenance med (back on 6mp or try mesalamine).

Other than that, if you try to taper the pred and just can't seem to get down without flaring back up, ask your GI about the budesonide. I have awful reactions to pred, like you, and right now I'm 30 weeks pregnant and started flaring last week. I started the budenoside since it is less systemic than pred, and it's helping the flare (slower than pred does, at least for me), but I am not having hardly any side effects at all. A bit of insomnia and some aching joints, but I am also 30 weeks pregnant, lol!

Hey everyone, I have been decreasing my dose as I had discussed with my GI, I am now at 17.5 mg, I'm still in relative flare though but the side effects we're just too much for me to handle at higher dose, they still are, I feel so bad in the mornings its just a nightmare.

One thing I did notice though is the ringing in my ears went down...BUT I also stopped taking Tylenol because I read that can cause Tinnitus and/or worsen it. Now Im not sure if it was the Pred or the Tylenol?

The fun never ends :(