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prednisone - bad headaches behind eyes

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Posted 2/2/2013 4:11 AM (GMT 0)
My daughter,  age 9,  dx w/ CD Nov. 2012 has complained quite frequently of bad headaches behind her eyes. Her face at night is bright red and hot...like having a hot flash, usually accompanied by a bad headache. I called eye doc being concerned about something w/CD and glaucoma that GI spec. had mentioned, but they said the eyes would be totally red, blood-shot, which hers never are. Has anyone experienced this on pred.? Tonight, half of her face was "on fire" and the other half felt totally normal temp. and she said her head hurt on the side where her face felt normal temp. Then she said to me, "Mom, ever since I've been on these medicines my stomach and head have been killing me!" What do I do? We're seeing a new gi spec. this Thursday.

She also started 6 MP 2 weeks ago and we're weaning her off of pred. We start 20 mg wean tomorrow for 2 weeks. She's been on it since Dec. 1 and I can't say we've seen an improvement in symptoms. If anything, her stomach pains have increased in frequency. (It did heal the large fissure on her rectum though). I'm also very nervous about her being on 6MP after reading others' posts....glaucoma, pancreatitis, hair loss, etc.

Thank you for your help...

Posted 2/2/2013 6:37 AM (GMT 0)
I get those same headaches - For me it is the combination both the prednisone and immune suppressant at the same time and they are most prevalent when I first start the treatment - i.e a high dose of prednisone at the beginning. Over time they tend to decrease both in severity and duration. I chalk it up to my body getting used to the medications.

Sugar, sweets or a meal with a lot of complex carbs usually results in warm face sensation as well a little while after eating - sometimes an hour or two.

I've also noticed in the past that my face gets warm and flush from time to time. Your Gi will probably tell you it's from the 6mp and pred combo.

It seems to me that lack of sleep also makes these symptoms more pronounced based on my past experience - especially the behind the eye headaches - or almost like eyes strain. It's probably hard for her to describe as I have trouble myself!...

One thing that might work is to have her lay down every couple of hours throughout the day and just close her eyes for as long as she can - even if she can't sleep. Just ask her to close her eyes and listen to soft music or something. It relives some of the strain on the eyes which is helpful even if it's just for a bit.

PS - It can actually be very difficult to keep your eyes closed for 15 min while on pred! A better option might be a simple warm cloth or hot water bottle resting over her eyes... I've done this as well. It's quite soothing.

I'd try the above -

Hopefully its nothing more than the above but if the headaches get worse I'd for sure head to the docs asap to be on the safe side... but that sort of goes without saying.

Mark
Posted 2/2/2013 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
I get migraines each time I'm on prednisone. They go away once I've tapered off. I have a prescription for sumatriptan, which gets rid of them really fast. It makes me feel a little foggy, and now that I'm pregnant I try not to take it too often. But something like that might help.
Posted 2/3/2013 3:38 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you so much, Canada Mark and Scifigirl2K. Your "experienced" words really helped calm my nerves. Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. We really appreciate it!
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