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Mental effects of taking prednisone and obsessive thoughts

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Posted 1/1/2014 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
Has prednisone ever made you feel like you are going insane or give you obsessive thoughts about the fear of becoming Insane? I think if myself as a pretty sane person but ever since I got on a dosage of 60mg I've been having evil obsessive thoughts... I'm paranoid and cannot function properly.


Please give me your thoughts!!!


Thank you
Posted 1/1/2014 9:51 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, predisone can enhance things like that. It can make people more edgy, moody, anxious, it tends to enhance psychotic feelings and thoughts. The prednisone train can be quite a wild ride for some folks.
Posted 1/1/2014 10:01 PM (GMT 0)
I had a mini-breakdown when on pred. In the middle of the night one night I had a huge anxiety attack and a huge rush of energy.

If it gets bad, call your GI or your primary and tell them about it. You can have severe mental issues while on pred.
Posted 1/1/2014 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
I was nuts while on prednisone. The worst was when I started having major side effects and my face blew up, then I looked awful and I was going crazy as well. That made me feel really good about myself. It's important to remember this is all temporary. Have you been on pred before? Both times I took a course, I started at 40mg with good results. I can't imagine being on 60mg, I couldn't sleep a wink on 40mg. How long have you been on 60mg? Did you get instructions on when to taper?
Posted 1/1/2014 10:30 PM (GMT 0)
Most definitely. I remember years ago when I was taking 80mgs for a different autoimmune disease I had some pretty evil psychotic thoughts. I clearly remember part of me was thinking those thoughts and another part of my mind was like an out of body experience watching this evil person with a hair trigger temper and saying to myself, "now I know what is going on the minds of these people that are going "postal"".
Posted 1/1/2014 11:02 PM (GMT 0)
Prednisone can be very scary. 60 is a lot to be on right off the bat.

Ask a good friend to babysit you until you can contact your doctor. Getting on a lower dose SHOULD help..m at least some.

Having a good friend around as a distraction and support is very helpful when you aren't feeling yourself.
Posted 1/1/2014 11:34 PM (GMT 0)
Okay thanks everyone! I'm 21 years old and 105 pounds so I think 60 is a lot for me!!! Tomorrow I taper to 40. I know deep down I'm actually not at risk of doing anything insane- prednisone is enough to give me the fear of being evil - it is frightening! I was worried I was havig killing thoughts like what you see in horror movies and it scared me! I think this drug allows you to psych yourself out and once you get a scary thought it keeps going and going.

I was certainly not like this a few days ago before taking this drug.


It has also made me super hyper at times and overly happy. Then the next minute I'm in a ball crying and sad about anything and everything. It's awful
Posted 1/2/2014 1:13 AM (GMT 0)
Wow... 60mg for a 105 lb girl?! That's insane. No wonder your poor brain was going a little nuts!

Just curious, what type/title of doctor is treating you for your UC?
How long have you been diagnosed? And what other meds are you on?

Welcome to the boards. Glad we could reassure you about this right away :)
Posted 1/2/2014 1:57 AM (GMT 0)
I had a really bad flare which I battled through going on and off steroids all year. The last time I flared in the summer it was bad- so my gastro put me on 60mg. Currently I am on a trip and the day I left home blood began again after a two month remission with no supporting meds other than canasa, butyric acid, vsl 3, fecal transplants, a healthy gluten free diet and supplements such as fish oil and vitamin b.

My doctor recommended 20 mg prednisone this time however that low dosage has never settled things for me in the past. I asked people on this site about doing a quick taper so the plan is 60 for 3 days, 40 for a couple, 20for a couple and then from there I need to figure out the rest.

Not fun but if you have tapering recommendations please let me know. In the past I let my symptoms get so out of hand so therefore I needed to be on of pred for months before things died down :/

Glad to have found these boards tho. So helpful!!
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