I don't know what's going on- possibly prednisone side effects?

I need some help. I am having a ton of very uncomfortable, annoying and painful side effects and I don't know what to do, because I'm not sure of the cause. I have Crohn's and have been taking prednisone for a flare. I started at 40mg at the end of June and was on 40 for about 6 weeks. The side effects were what I expected and had experienced before on my last round of prednisone when I was first diagnosed; extra energy, increased appetite, moon face, weight gain, irritability... But it was working, I stopped having bloody stools three days later. After about a week, though, I didn't feel extra energy, I was tired all the time instead. Two weeks ago, I started tapering at 30mg for two weeks. Those first few days were AWFUL. I was so drained and literally felt sick from withdrawal. But, my body got used to it and I was okay for the rest of the time. However, a week ago, I moved back to college, so consequently, I have been under a lot of stress from moving and other stressors in my life that I cannot control. I just started 20mg yesterday, and did better as far as withdrawal symptoms, thank goodness. Anyways, I'm just going to list my symptoms and would like to know if anyone has had any of these symptoms at all while taking prednisone. I just don't know if these are all from the pred or something else that I need to stop ignoring.
extreme hunger, can't stop eating until I'm very full, moon face and weight gain- I've gained probably over 20 pounds in the last two to three months, abdominal distention and bloating (which I am usually always bloated, but this is particularly worse), irritability, worsening eyesight, fatigue, water retention- my legs and ankles are very swollen, as well as the lymph node glands on my neck, they are very tender, EXTREME itchiness ALL OVER my body, from my scalp to my feet, but there's no rash or bumps or dryness or anything that would make it itchy, stomachache that is different from food that causes pain, this pain is from movement, like if I lay on my stomach or twist weird, my stomach hurts. It feels like someone is wringing it out, heartburn and indigestion that is unusual from my normal, and I feel like my anxiety is worse than normal. Are any of these unusual?

All of the things that you mentioned at the beginning are definitely from prednisone - I get that insane craving to just EAT, even when I'm stuffed full. Pregnancy cravings are nothing compared to it.

I'm concerned about the itchiness, though. I think you need to give your doctor a call about. The anxiety is fairly typical for prednisone, especially being on it for weeks. You can ask your doctor for a med to help calm you down. I'm also concerned about the abdominal pain. I think if you don't feel the need to go to an ER, you need to call your doctor and get some scans.

I just saw you're on 6mp.... a rare side effect is pancreatitis, which is quite painful upper belly pain below the breast area. It often radiates into your back, causes extreme bloating, and gets excruciating when you lay on your back. I think you really need to get to an urgent care, or better an ER to get bloodwork done to make sure it isn't pancreatitis. Trust me when I say from experience that you do NOT want to ignore that possibility. I ignored mine for over a month, and ended up on a feeding tube and spending 6 months in and out of the hospital to get it down. I am NOT saying that's what you have, but you have some indicators that it isn't safe to ignore.

I agree with everyone. Better to be safe and proactive given the medications you are on! While these meds can be very helpful, Prednisone alone can do quite a bit of damage and so can 6mp! How frequently have you been seeing your GI/ when was your last follow up? being on 40 mugs for 6 weeks seems like a lot to me. Stress can e really hard on you, I have lots of experience with that but try not to blame everything on it because Ive made that mistake before and almost missed some very serious problems that I thought were just symptoms of the stress I was under.

I'm glad you went to the ER. Do you know how high your liver enzymes were?

As for your gallbladder 'sludge,' I had an ultrasound that found gallbladder sludge one time when I was really sick in 2006. I didn't have my gallbladder removed, and I haven't had any problems with it since. My understanding is that sludge sometimes turns into stones and requires removal, but sometimes the sludge goes away and the gallbladder returns to being fine.

Do you have any pain if you take your right hand fingers and probe directly underneath your right front ribs (that's where the gallbladder is)?

Your liver enzymes could be elevated due to the 6mp, or they could be elevated due to the gallbladder malfunctioning. Hard to say. If I were your doc I'd have you stop the 6mp and see if you improve, but I'm not your doc so follow what he/she says.

If it did turn out you need gallbladder surgery, the 6mp immunosuppression isn't a big concern/risk, but the high doses of prednisone are somewhat of a risk for complications (infections, slow healing, etc). Unless you had to have your gallbladder removed ASAP due to pain/infection/stuck stones in the ducts, they'd wait and want you off the pred before doing the surgery. But hopefully the sludge will resolve itself once the rest gets figured out.

Gallbladder issues can cause problems with the pancreas, so please double check that they ran your lipase and amylase levels to make sure it wasn't pancreatitis in addition.

I had my gallbladder removed and it was really not a huge deal. It was laprascopic, so only three tiny incisions (one in my belly button). I've developed a few adhesions from it, but that's kind of something that's a 50/50 chance, and there's nothing you can do about it.