Started Prednisone Today

Ok.. After my visit to the ER yesterday, I took my first dose of prednisone today.. 40mg until I get this flare under control, then tapering down to hopefully nothing except for my regular meds.. I have a follow up appointment today to see what drug therapies they want to try with me next...

  I'll let you know how it goes..... Only sign of the prednisone so far is my heart is starting to "THUMP"... lol... don't know if that's necessarily a good thing or not... 

Hi P-Fit.... Well since today is my first day on Prednisone... I have still not been feeling very good... No real appetite to speak of, but I can eat small amounts of food and not get cramps too bad... I just ate a very small portion of Chicken that my stepdaughter made for me (She's such a sweetheart) and some scalloped potatoes... Just enough to put something in my stomach and then had another ensure.. Although I did have a sandwich this afternoon that was turkey meat, deli style, with light mayo and whole wheat bread... that was pretty good with no bad cramping so far...

I drink ensure's mostly and those work wonders for me.. I took my 40mg of pred this morning with my oatmeal and one ensure, and my other U/C Med Lialda and went to my doctor today... He told me to stop all my other medications while on Prednisone, and to stay at this 40mg dose for 2 weeks then come back to see him about how I'm doing and to start the tapering process.

He said the reason to go off the 5 ASA's is that my body has developed a tolerance to them, and sometimes going off of them for a while get's your body back to how it was before and when you go back on them you will have a good reaction again.. That makes sense and as long as I'm on the Pred, I'll do what he says... Then when I start tapering the pred, maybe bring back in the Lialda and Rowasa and Canasa to see if those drugs can keep me in remission again.... Plus, the good side for now is that I only take the Pred once a day, and all the other pills PLUS the pred were kind of a pain...

I'm not sure as how certain foods effect me yet, I'll have to give it a week and see how I feel once the pred kicks in and get's my remission going.

All in all... Day one wasn't too bad.. but the 40mg dose is a higher dose and it sure got me cranked up... man that was the main thing was feeling like I had 30 pots of coffee and having to deal with it... NOT EASY... So I took a 1/2 a Xanax and that helped some and now that it's time for bed I took my ambien and that is finally kicking in so I'll end this for now... I feel that I can do this dose for 2 weeks with help from the xanax and ambien for sleep... then after that.. can start tapering and see what happens..

Just a bit freaked out, but hanging in there.. it's been a loooooong week....

Susiebuddy,
Definitely tell the doc about your racing heartbeat with the pred, make sure that you aren't having a reaction to it. I don't believe that it should cause that, at least it didn't for me. But anything that makes my heart race like that worries me. So let him know and keep an eye on it. I wish you luck with the pred and wish for a speedy recovery.
Emilie

My heart was racing when I was on 60 mg, but now that I am on 35, I do not have the problem. I don't know if it was actually from prednisone or something else, though. It could have been coincidence

     I am seriously considering upping my prednisone to 40 mgm.  I started this flare about five weeks ago.  The doctor told me to start at 20 mgm of prednisone.  Of course, this does nothing, so I started at 30mgm.  Actually, the 30 for a week did nothing either.  I have no idea why he starts me so low.  He should know from my numerous past experiences (almost 11 yrs with this disease) that my lowest starting dose has always been 40 mgm.  Guess he just hates me being on the darn prednisone.  Well, I am not overjoyed either, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  He increased my 6MP to 100 mgm.  So far, this week, I have tolerated that ok.  So any opinions out there?  I am taking 20 mgm of prednisone, no sense in lowering to 15 which is what I was going to do.  I am still bleeding with urgency.  Tempted to go off the Colazal too.  Sick of taking nine of those babies a day and they are doing absolutely nothing.   Probably immune to them after eight years.  They haven't kept me out of flares.  Taking Cort enemas (which recently refuse to stay up there) and Canasa suppositories.

     Susie, prednisone can give you gastric ulcers.  Better notify your doctor about that heartburn.  When I was hospitalized last year they gave me 60 mgm of prednisone through the IV.  I had to take Nexium and thankfully I had no upper gastric distress.  However, the prednisone raised my blood pressure to alarming limits...210/110 and I was on three blood pressure meds.  It also raised my blood sugar and they gave me insulin through the IV.  No wonder my GI doctor refers to prednisone is the best worse drug.

Is it normal to stop 5ASA drugs? I'm curious because I once had a problem with Lialda during my initial flare after I was diagnosed and was taken off of it, only to be reintroduced later on.

This is my second time on pred.  The first time I was on 20mg for 7 days, then 15mg for 7 days, then 10mg for 7 days, and 5 mg for 7 days then off of it.  I was fine on the pred.  I felt like I was normal again.  When I got down to about 5 mg I started going D more.  about a week after the pred was stopped I was going D about 10-15 times a day again.  I started pred about two weeks ago at 20mg(not tapering yet because she is waiting until I start remi and get through the first group of infusions).  Within a day or two I went to about two bm's a day.  I really don't have any side effects on pred but I'm worried about long term use.  I really feel normal on pred(except I get tired).  You almost forget you have UC then you go off the pred and almost right away you feel like crap again.  I hope the pred gets you out of your flare and that you don't experience to many of the side effects.  Isn't UC fun? 

Hey again~!

Today is day 11 on Pred... Still some bleeding but my cramps are gone and overall I feel better... Prednisone has not been the miracle drug I thought it would be, but it has me going in the right direction at least.. I have to stay on 40mg for probably another week or so before I can start to taper, but so far, no major side effects except for feeling like I've had about 30 cups of coffee all the time.. lol.. AND.. I've actually LOST weight.. 7 pounds so far and averaging about 1/2 pound a day... it must be having the opposite effect on me because it makes me not hungry and wanting to keep going all day. No water weight gain and my house has never been cleaner.. I've been going through cabinets, cleaning out drawers and it's been quite a trip being on this drug.....

Hey, there-- I have some closets that need to be cleaned, wanna help? (Just jivin'-- 'cause I remember what a steroid high does. It makes you feel like you could break boards with one chop.) Try to get at least 8 hrs rest every day so that your colon heals. Pred also made my heart pound at 40 mgm., when I was in a severe flare & dropped down to 105 lbs. Besides keeping your potassium up, you need to supplement calcium & vit D for the sake of your bones. Hopefully, the Pred will have you feeling well enough within 6 weeks that you can ease back to 5-ASA meds. Take care & don't push yourself. / Old Hat (30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])