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withdrawal from prednisone and symptoms...?

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Posted 9/5/2010 2:12 PM (GMT 0)
Okay, so the prednisone has helped a lot in terms of no more fevers, no more burning pain near my belly button, and no more diarrhea - way better than how I felt a couple weeks ago. I was really dizzy when I was on 40mg and then 35mg, but that seems to have gone away too (thankfully). Now I am on 30mg of prednisone and for the first time in a year and a half I am constipated (what the ?!) and now that my dose is lower I am feeling more anxious / sleepless / nauseous (especially in the morning) and my heart races a bit occasionally. This wasn't happening on the higher doses, but seems to be happening on the 30mg (I'm going down 5mg per week). Confusing.
What have other's experiences been like as they dropped their prednisone dose?
Also, I was avoiding raw fruits vegis/ fiber because I didn't want to trigger symptoms (and I have narrowing in ileum / cecum) and I was eating a lot of dairy, but that is probably why I am constipated. The last couple days I have eaten some whole wheat bread and some babyfood pears and some fruit smoothies to try and get things moving, but so far it doesn't seem to be working. I am a bit scared to take a laxative of any kind because I am worried this might hurt things....? Advice?
Posted 9/5/2010 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
You might try some stool softners to help things soften up and make them easier to pass. Thats what I do when I suffer with constipation. Others say apple juice helps, or even eating a prune or two. Good luck!
Posted 9/5/2010 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Nanners, and I really like your tag line at the bottom of your messages - it sticks in my head and I find myself repeating "choose hope and faith"...
Posted 9/5/2010 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
My experiences with prednisone were similar, happened around the 15-20mg point.

The part that Docs dont talk about with steroids is how they deplete your adrenal glands, when you come off the steroids your adrenals have to then take back the job the steroids had hijacked while running on empty.

This site helped me a lot: http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/

Its worth a read considering your adrenals are responsible for all your hormone production either directly or indirectly by providing all your other glands with what they need to produce other hormones.
Posted 9/5/2010 2:48 PM (GMT 0)
I had to switch off pred, to useing vicodin, once my flares went down, the pred constipated me really bad and made things worse, but it did quiet down the flare that I was having in my throat and mouth with cankersores, but the complications from that drug were worse than cd symptoms. for all that it is worth

Posted 9/5/2010 2:55 PM (GMT 0)
it takes a long time before you start feeling normal. for me i still felt like crap and severely anxious/depressed even 2-3 months after i took the last pill
Posted 9/5/2010 6:08 PM (GMT 0)
Same thing happened to me on Prednisone too. 40mg made me anxious and euphoric, took away all my symptoms and I felt pretty good. 35mg made me anxious and mean. 30mg made me constipated and I started craving sweet food like crazy. As I tapered down, I got crazier, really bad case of "roid rage", hungrier, thirstier, somehow managed to lose weight and I stopped sleeping. One week I think I got 15 hours of sleep tops. When I hit 5mg, most of the symptoms stopped...except for this unsatiable craving I had for chocolate pudding. Weird.

After I got off of it, I had a really, really bad case of fatigue that lasted up until a few weeks ago. It was terrible. But my symptoms are gone and I can live life again. 3 bad months are definately worth it to (hopefully) get a quality of life back.

Though for me, whenever I was on pred/flaring I start drinking coffee. It always gets things moving for me and there's no chance of it getting stuck on a stricture. :)
Posted 9/5/2010 6:54 PM (GMT 0)
I haven't been able to successfully get off Pred yet, but I experienced the same symptoms while tapering down on my first go around.  At 40 everything was awesome.  Unbelievable energy, no other really bad side effects other than constantly being sweaty.  When I went down to 30 (doctor had me tapering at 10 mg per week), I felt really weird for a couple of days.  Just couldn't focus, was dizzy, etc.  But after a couple of days everything was fine.  At 20, I felt the same weirdness for a few days, plus I could feel the arthritis kicking back in, but it was manageable and the food cravings started.  Like a previous poster said, I was craving sweets.  Had to ban all ice cream from the house!  At 10, all the flare symptoms came back with a vengence so my GI put me back up to 40 and added Immuran.  40 is different this time around.  Still have great energy, but I feel a little more roid rage.  Course that could have been because I decided to go to the mall in the middle of a Saturday afternoon and clearly I'm the onlly one in the world that knows how to drive in a parking lot.  I went through a month of tapering with no weight gain, but this second time around I've gained 3 pounds so far.  Gotta get that in check for sure!

Hopefully you'll work through the weird tapering stuff and everything will stay calmed down when you're off!  Good luck!

Lori

Posted 9/5/2010 7:51 PM (GMT 0)
I went though same thins with pred. at 60mg felt great even at 30 still great execpt for the shakening

at 5mg everything went crazy constipated thoart problems heart racing and skipping now i'm off for second time still feeling pain in joints bad but thoart problems seem to be dying down. good luck is a crazy drug I would eat anything and could with no side effects  gainned 30 ilbs in 3 months that cant be good!!!

Posted 9/5/2010 9:24 PM (GMT 0)
milk of magnesia. xoxo

with the damage in the illeum it's worse to be constipated, I take it alot (i'm a C type) and it is gentle and works great with my GI's blessings. And coffee, always coffee LOL.... but if you're feeling anxious that might not be the best thing, right? if it helps I take the milk of mag before bed, get up in the morning and have a cup of coffee, and, er, "end of problem". You might find if your colon transit time is super fast, you're going to wake up having to go -- but that's okay, right? I manage most of the time to take the 4tbs dose, go to bed around midnight and wake up around 7. let know how you are!

Post Edited (janicea) : 9/5/2010 3:30:08 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 9/5/2010 11:51 PM (GMT 0)
For me? Every time I'd get below .5 mgs of pred, Re-bound CD flares. Went on for about a year..

Matthew
Posted 9/6/2010 4:48 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks everyone - tried some more vegis in the diet today, and took one ducosate sodium tonight (although it was expired almost a year old - so not sure it will help - will have to buy some new stuff). I just feel like my bowels are "frozen" now which is a feeling I have not had since I can remember! This morning I woke right up at 5am and couldn't sleep anymore - and had the racing heart and anxiety for most of the morning. I guess it beats a flare, but sheesh! I head back to work on Tues and I am hoping the rest of the tapering goes okay because I work as a social worker and I really need a clear and kind head!
Posted 9/6/2010 4:53 AM (GMT 0)
I know that if you go cold turkey off Pred you can get pnuemonia......
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