Methylprednisolone

Methylprednisolone is one of the many forms of steroid that reduce the inflammation that we have as a result of Lupus. It DOES NOT address the Lupus itself.

Your body has probably adjusted to the steroid and your rheumy will most likely put you on Plaquenil, a disease-inhibiting medication that helps prevent inflammation before it starts instead of treating it after it happens, the way steroids do. [Think of it this way, steroids are the band-aids we use after the injury, there are other meds that act like knee-pads to help us avoid the injury.]

In the meantime, there are many things we can do to help keep inflammation down. Avoid foods known to cause inflammation, avoid stress (like holiday or political stress!), eat as healthily as you can, drink water, get deep restorative sleep.

And see if you can get into the rheumy sooner, or ask if you can increase the dosage a little in the meantime. [Don't increase/decrease steroid use by yourself unless you've already had a conversation about it with your Dr. It can affect things like heartbeat!]

Let us know if you have other questions.

Prednisone has a common side effect or ramping you up, giving you energy, making if difficult to sleep, that sort of thing. (Not sure it could be termed mania, but maybe.) For that reason when used in higher dosages a sleeping aid of some sort is often a good idea.

If you aren't sleeping, that can cause depression, but depression isn't usually directly related to prednisone usage.