HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Did you vow NEVER to use Prednisone again??

Support Forums
>
Ulcerative Colitis
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 3/13/2010 1:38 AM (GMT 0)
So what DID you do then when you were flaring?

What can you do to help with the inflammation which I assume is what causes D, frequency and bleeding?

Posted 3/13/2010 1:43 AM (GMT 0)
I took one course of Pred and will never take it again. Fortunately I respond relatively well to 5 ASA, so I bombard myself with those from all directions to control flares
Posted 3/13/2010 1:53 AM (GMT 0)
I hope and pray I don' t need prednisone again but if I do - yes, I would take it course of it! 

ElaineNY

Posted 3/13/2010 2:03 AM (GMT 0)

Yes, I vowed never to take prednisone again and opted for surgery.  The risks of long term pred use (4+ months=long term) far outweigh the benefit.  It's been over 9 years since I had my last dose.  I had a bad bout of poison oak a few years ago that any doctor would have prescribed prednisone for but I refused to take it and suffered through the recovery!

Sue

Posted 3/13/2010 2:14 AM (GMT 0)
I've vowed NEVER to take it again unless I'm in the hospital and dying.
I was given Entocort instead of Prednison.
Posted 3/13/2010 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
I have permanent disability from taking steroids, and I will never take them again. If it takes surgery, that's what I'll do.
Posted 3/13/2010 5:09 AM (GMT 0)
I would never use it unless it was a 10 day - 2 week taper to off. As per Sue's poison ivy situation, my husband had the same thing and it's never returned after the quick taper. I'd do that route, but I've never been on it for UC, asthma or anything else.

If the 5ASA meds stopped working for me, I don't know what I'd do. For pred to get me out of a flare, what would I do for the next one???? No, wouldn't plan to start beyond one stab at a quick taper.

I'd opt for my colon out....thinking ahead for quality of life and it wouldn't include the immunosuppressants or biologics. I've been fortunate that 5ASA meds have worked for me, but I've also been faithful in using them.

If I had gotten another doctor (such as the other one in my GI's office), he'd have had me on prednisone from day one. Yes, he told me so when I had to see him once when my doc wasn't available. I told him I was grateful he wasn't my doc. That was 20 years ago.

quincy
Posted 3/13/2010 5:47 AM (GMT 0)
I have...and I'm back on it. I'm fairly nonresponsive to 5-ASA drugs and we tried entocort for this flare but it didn't work...now trying prednisone and azathioprine to get things under control.
Posted 3/13/2010 6:08 AM (GMT 0)
I took it. I was miserable and it didn't do anything for me and I'll NEVER do it again.
Posted 3/13/2010 8:30 AM (GMT 0)
Been on Prednisone for over 3 months and can't wait to get off it! I can't sleep and it makes me moody. However, it has got things under control so the good outweighs the bad considering the extreme pain I was in before I got on it. Starting Azathioprine soon, I hope it works. Anyone had any luck with Azathioprine?
Posted 3/13/2010 12:53 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on prednisone without a break for 5 years almost, pretty sure I'm steroid dependant now. Aside from moonface from extremly high doses at times and some insomnia I havent noticed anything else. Dont know about osteoperosis. It did cause some stretch marks running off both sides of a pair of scars I got from chest tubes from a car accident to uncollapse both my lungs. I've been on 60mg at times after being in the hospital for UC, down to 2.5mg. Currently on 6mg tapering down hopefully I can get off of it but I'm not really worried about it.
Posted 3/13/2010 12:54 PM (GMT 0)
Been on it 3 different times,back in 1985 and 86 i was in very bad flares,the prednisone did away with the flare each time.I was in my twenties so i feel whatever side effects there might have been they didn't bother me that much.I've been on pred since last summer,started at 40mg,cut to 30mg.20mg,10 mg,7.5mg,5mg,now at 2.5.If the flare is a bad one then i'd take the pred again,the only side effect was the fatigue-so i switched from taking in the morning to taking at night[much better].I'M also on 6mp so the fatigue could of come from that 
Posted 3/13/2010 4:08 PM (GMT 0)
I wouldn't say I am going to vow to never use it again after I get this flare under control but I certainly am not taking it lightly. This is really hard on my body. There really was no suck it up and stay on 5 ASA's and see what happens at the time I started pred. I was seriously ill. completely non-functioning writhing in agony, wanted to die. Of course the goal is to avoid it in the future. I'm trying Imuran and will be going back on 5ASA's for my pred taper. So, the goal is never to do pred again, but if I get this sick again? Maybe, it's a possibility!
Posted 3/13/2010 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
I had vowed never to again...and here I am on them again. I felt like I had no choice. My GI wants me off of them as soon as it is reasonable to do so, but it is going to be a while I suspect. Pred doesn't get me completely out of flares anyway-it helps, but never had gotten me into remission or even close, so I hate being on it even more. If it really did the trick, I think I wouldn't mind all of the side effects of it (I have a LOT of side effects from pred).

Last time, the Humira really got me into remission fast-the Remicade is working a lot slower. I am not sure how long I will have to be on the pred this time as a result of that. But 5ASAs just don't seem to do enough for me, and I don't respond well to steroid rectals either.

I hope I will be able to start tapering off of the pred in a few more weeks, but I am not sure. It depends on how much progress I make between now and then. Fingers crossed!!
Posted 3/13/2010 7:23 PM (GMT 0)
     Yeah...I vow never to take it again....but I am on it again.  I've been on it for the better part of the last two years...never higher than 40 mgm and that was only for about five days and then a 10 mgm per week taper.  I was down to 10 mgm last week, had my flex sig on Wed, started with the urgency and bleeding, so increased it to 30 mgm yesterday.  I'll stay on 30 for four days and see how the doctor wants me to taper.  When I taper 10 mgm every five days it seems my symptoms return quickly.  I am about to start Humira soon.  Is it dangerous to be on Prednisone and Humira?
Posted 3/13/2010 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
I will. But when I was on it I responded well, didn't have too much problem with side effects (just a little bit of moonface), and tapered off easily. I was only on it for a month an a half as well. I will never allow myself to be on it any longer than 4 months, though, and I won't allow myself to be on it repeatedly.

Editing to add that "I will" means that "I will take it again if I need to."

Posted 3/13/2010 9:33 PM (GMT 0)
My doc had me taper way too fast. When I got to 20 on the third round of a taper. I dropped by 2.5 a week. I swear I'll never take that stuff again... The psychosis was scary and lasted well beyond my last dose after 4 months.
Posted 3/14/2010 3:08 AM (GMT 0)
I have sworn that i will never take it again unless I'm hospitalized or have absolutely no other choice. Perhaps in a few years i will have forgotten how terrible the side effects were for me, although it did work well to get me out of my flare. After three months off it i flared again and I refused to go back on it, although my dr. tried to insist. I started on 6mp which was able to get me out of the flare on its own. At this point i would honestly rather suffer with a flare then go on that drug again.
Posted 3/14/2010 7:25 AM (GMT 0)
I don't care about the short-term effects. They go away. It's the long-term effects that bother me. Prednisone ages the body. It ages the connective tissue. Some tissue is deep. It's not always noticeable when we age. Anyway, I took prednisone once. I was in a serious flare and didn't know about the side effects at the time. Prednisone gave me time to figure out what I had and how I could treat it naturally. So I am glad I took it. But I will never take it again.
Posted 3/14/2010 7:35 AM (GMT 0)
Just got off it after 8 months (this time) - and I got of it because I got the surgery. For me best decision.
Posted 3/14/2010 8:58 AM (GMT 0)
The moon face and fatigue were awful. Entocort enemas at the first sign of flare seem to be doing the trick along with the Asacol.
Posted 3/14/2010 6:05 PM (GMT 0)
Currently am on Pred. at two 10mg a day tapering down, I DO NOT LIKE PRED. affects to many qualities of life for it to be beneficial for me. Do not want to go on it again, will probably vow to never use it again after this.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply