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Prednisone question

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 1/6/2010 4:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hi all:

I was just wondering why eveyone seems to hate prednisone so much.  Whenever I have a flare, I go on about 40mgs for one week, and then I decrease by 10mg each week.  When I am on this drug, I feel great, my movements are mostly normal, and although my appetite does increase, I still only eat two meals per day.  I am not concerned about sterility (I do not have, nor do I want, kids), and I was wondering whether low doses of this drug are worth the other potential side effects.

I was diagnosed with CD (limited to colon) back in 1989, and I have had one surgery.  I am on 6mp and Remicade, which seem to do the trick most of the time, but when I do go back on Prednisone, I feel soooo much better.  Also, I just had a scope two weeks ago, and the inflammation was way down, and I suspect some of that was because I had been on Prednisone for a few weeks before the test.

Is this drug as bad as everyone seems to think?  Also, does anyone know of any drugs with the same positive effects, but without the negative ones?

Thanks. 

Posted 1/6/2010 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
I consider Prednisone a necessary evil myself. Its one of the best drugs for me at least to quickly get a flare undercontrol. I refuse to take more than 30 mg. because I get really bad side effects on anything higher. But 30mg being a starting point has always worked out well for me.
Posted 1/6/2010 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
I recently, about a month ago went on prednisone for the first time and I've felt (relatively) awesome ever since... with minimal side effects. I'm on 30 mg right now, started at 40mg. Hopefully I will continue to be as lucky as I am and not get too many side effects before I'm down to 0... I hope I never have to go on it again but this experience so far has been nothing but positive (and I was so scared and upset when I was told I'd have to go on!)
Posted 1/6/2010 6:39 PM (GMT 0)
You got to remember apart from that it can cause nasty side-effects its not guaranteed to work with everyone! If it doesn't make a significant difference then theres not a lot of point in taking it.

I am one of those people who CANNOT take it, not WON'T but CAN'T my doctors won't actually allow it. I would happily take on any side-effect in the world if it got me feeling good but pred never really helped my Crohn's and then the side-effects I had got so severe it was putting my body under so much stress it was making the Crohn's worse and potentially made me a danger to myself and others. So if you can handle it and it helps you think yourself lucky, unfortunately drugs work differently with different people.
Posted 1/6/2010 6:51 PM (GMT 0)
Personally, prednisone and I have a love-hate relationship. It works wonders for my Crohn's but does a number on the rest of my body. I have been on and off, mostly on for the last 20+ years at various doses. Aside from the usual side effects that you get at high doses, insomnia, moon face, increase appetite.... Prednisone has eaten away at my bones, given me GERD, raised my blood pressure and my sugar levels. So while I still am on a low dose and will never rule out prednisone because it works for me, it does have its cost.
Posted 1/6/2010 7:04 PM (GMT 0)
I never got much for side-effects from being on pred so I always loved pred myself, until it stopped working all together...so I think it's the side effects that most have issues with, that and not being able to ween off of it without symptoms returning again before they even get completely off of it...that was one of my issues with pred, getting down about hald to 3/4 of a way on it and symptoms returning.


:)
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