Prednisone

I have a question ..... I'm taking 40mg of Prednisone. The pharmacist where I work is a little weird to me. I seem to be reeeally down at times, but not always. I've been on it about 2 weeks. I remember being on 60 and completely out of my head with depression.  I started tapering off (even though I'm not better yet - who knows why, I figured worst-case scenario I'd go to the hospital), I just wanted back to normal. I asked the pharmacist today how slowly I should taper off. And she told me 40 mg once a day is nothing! She said it shouldn't really be affecting me at all.  Now I feel like I'm faking it or something!  Is she just a you-know-what or is she wrong? Has anyone else been affected by "only' 40 mg.?  Be honest, I promise I won't cry LOL

     With this present flare my doctor started me at 20 mgm of prednisone back in June, which did absolutely nothing.  He increased it to 40 mgm and I have been tapering 5mgm per week ever since.  YES....you most certainly can have side effects at 40 mgm.  I had, and still have, insomnia.  I also had mood swings and depressing thoughts....just ask my hubby...poor dear..lol.  I am now down to 10 mgm one day and 15 mgm the next.  I am also on Cort enemas nightly (I have ulcerative proctitis) and Canasa in the mornings.

     Your pharmacist needs to be informed.

Prednisone Ive noticed effects my mood swings, sleep habits, hunger, stress, moon face, acne and depression to a varying degree if im taking more than 15mg. Being active and working out/live a healthy lifestyle has helped minimize those side effects.

If youre still flaring I wouldnt taper down till youre better. No point on even taking Prednisone if youre not going to let it do its work.

Oh God! Elephant your story made me almost pee my pants! Thank you so much everyone for your input - I didn't an update email so I thought no one answered me and I was sad :( Well I work in a brand new grocery store, about 5 weeks old, and it takes a pharmacy a few years to work up a regular base of customers. This one ha already logged so many complaints that they average 4 or 5 a day!! I didn't think she was right either - my fiance wouldn't think so either! LOL!! I swore I'd taper off the pred because I didn't think he was understanding me or my mood swings (I am SO lucky/happy not toget the weight gain or moon face), I figured I'd actually rather be admitted to a hospital than fight. But he swore he's be better at understanding and help me through - so after tapering down to 35, I'm back up to 40. (I was on 60 about 5 years ago). Coincidentally, I also remember at that time being on the enemas (my doc made me keep them in all night!) I didn't even wear glasses but had a little mini-prescript ion because I thought glasse looked cool, and I actually had to wear them - I looked at the box once and I read that side effects could be eye probs!

Most people will have side-effects at 40mg of pred (your pharmacist must be looped up herself on something), I seem to be a rare case though, about the only side effect I ever used to get from pred was some acne on my back (at 40mg for 2 weekds straight before tapering off of it), so although not everyone will suffer some or even alot of side effects from pred at 40mg, the majority do.

:)

I am currently on 40mg and have some moon face. The last time I was on 40mg, I didn't get depression until I was tapering off and the dosage seemed so low that it really surprised me. But that was a really scary, severe depression and I'm not prone to it. There were other circumstances that were contributing but I really do blame the pred. I was afraid/embarrassed to ask for help but knew I should have let my doctor know what was going on. My other times on pred were only up to 20mg and I didn't have the depression problems with that. We'll see how this time goes.

I was on 40mg of pred earlier this year and it caused me to have some pretty major depression. I tapered off (per my GI's instruction) as quickly as I could after that. I went on Effexor soon after, it has made me feel much better!

AJ..I'm curious why you started on the pred and not on the Asacol or retention enemas?

q

Scary to think someone like that is in a position to dispense drugs. I think of 40 mg as a "moderate" dose. Sixty mg would be in the "high" range, but that doesn't mean 40 can't affect you.

Your pharmacist is nuts. I just started my prednisone taper. I hate this stuff. I started on 40mg a day and didn't sleep for almost two weeks. I got bumped up to 60mg. I think today is actually another drop in dosage, but regardless, the side effects I've experienced are crazy. Insomnia, acne, joint and muscle pain, mood swings, and an obscene amount of sweating just to name the main ones.

Quincy - I'm about to email my doctor and ask for that. I'm tapering off anyway. I just can't take it. I am in such a horible state of depression right now I honestly don't know what else to do.

The only problem is, I don't have insurance yet, and I remember one of those being VERY expensive. I'm tapering off the pred, seems like there's less blood so hopefully I'm better soon **crossed fingers**

There are patient assistance programs for Asacol, Lialda, and Apriso (all oral 5ASAs) for people w/o insurance, and I know that both Lialda and Apriso offer reimbursement for co-pays up to a certain amount each month. Definitely look into it all. The information should be accessable from each drug's website. I think some of the rectal meds have patient assistance programs as well.