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Predisone and Fatigue

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 11/5/2015 9:03 PM (GMT 0)
I am on Predisone. Started at 60mg 2 months ago. Current dosage is 30mg. I am extremely tired. Is there something I can do to get some energy? Also this is my first time on Pred. Any tips how to taper off successfully?
Posted 11/5/2015 9:32 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know, but I am in the same boat. I started at 30 and tons of energy and today was my first day at 20 and I am dragging! My brain is fuzz and all I want to do is sleep.
Posted 11/5/2015 10:02 PM (GMT 0)
When I first started Prednisone (80 mg), my fatigue was terrible. I would just totally crash to the point to where I was in bed either asleep or being useless more than I was awake. After a while it improved but I still carried that fatigue. Even as I taper down, I am still always in a state of fatigue. My advice;

When you do sleep, make it quality sleep. Avoid electronics before bed, keep it as dark as possible, and try to keep yourself as comfortable so your body can at least get the most of it

Keep up with your vitamins (B12 especially in my opinion) and stay hydrated

And for me, I found that being physical also helped. Walking, stretching, for some reason the days where I forced myself to be more physical than usual I had less fatigue. Overall though, the fatigue doesn't go away.

I would speak to your doctor about your tapering (especially your rate of taper). I am in the middle of that myself. Sadly the fatigue never truly leaves shakehead but we can try to minimize it.
Posted 11/6/2015 10:40 AM (GMT 0)
I always found the fatigue to be more a symptom of my UC rather than just being caused by the steroids alone (I'm not saying steroids doesn't cause it).

Even when I am in remission I get very fatigued.

However if you are flaring badly you could be anaemic from all the bleeding, which can make you very very tired. The last time that I was badly anaemic, my doctors knew but had not told me, or put me on medication, it was only when I mentioned the fatigue (I was falling asleep at my desk at work), that they looked up my bloods on the computer. So it might be worth asking them to check.

As for tapering, I would say take it slow. It's better to go slow and recover properly, rather than to rush and have to increase the dose again. Also don't panic if you do have to. I had lots of setbacks when I was tapering after my first flare, but I got there in the end.

We have Prednisolone in the UK instead of Prednisone, so it might be a bit different, however I would normally reduce your dose by 5mg every 2 weeks. I used to often struggle once I got down to about 10mg, and have to go back up to about 20mg, then back down by 5mg a fortnight again. Once you reach 5mg, you can get 2.5mg and 1mg tablets, to help you taper slowly.
Posted 11/6/2015 9:13 PM (GMT 0)
I was on prednisone for 2.5 years for IgA Nephropathy. Started @ 60 mg, then 40, then 20 a long time, then down to 10 a long time. Finally, nephro said not working, so started Cellcept, said I could get off pred. Nephro said go to 5 & quit. No!! Got bronchitis/pneumonia almost overnight. Primary doc said start tapering again as soon as I finished antibiotics. No!! Got sick doing that. Prednisone suppresses your own adrenal function. The dangerous range for tapering is below 5 mg, because that's how much your adrenals normally make. If you've suppressed them w/prednisone, then cut the dose below the minimum needed for life, you're going to have trouble. Most drs will tell you how to taper wrong. The only dr who can safely help you taper off long term prednisone is an ENDOCRINOLOGIST. Mine dropped me by 1 mg per month (starting @ 5 mg) and did the testing on the adrenals to see if they were waking up & continuing was safe. If the adrenals don't wake back up & do their job, you'll have to take some prednisone for life (to avoid dying). But the ENDO is the dr to help you taper down from chronic prednisone use. I had a year of hell & some setbacks, but am now off prednisone & hope I never have to take it long term ever again.
Posted 11/6/2015 10:59 PM (GMT 0)
Pred. has really messed up with my body but it does help with the inflammation. Think I would agree that the fatigue may be due to UC symptoms, have you had a Vit. b12 shot or the oral supplement the shot may work to your advantage because it works quite fast and doesn't have to pass the metabolism phase. As for tapering I'd go by what your GI has said, usually its a decrease of 5mg every 1 or 2 weeks depends how bad the inflammation is. Currently i just started on 80mg for two weeks then will start tapering by 5mg every week. I hope the energy levels increase for you. Keep us posted.
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