Stopped pred. Withdrawal?

Hi.

I recently stopped taking pred, It's been almost a month. I was a long time user. I was on a low dose before stopping completely, I was taking it irregularly, like 10 mgs every two days etc but it was lower than that at some point. I feel a bit weird but first, some background info.

In the last 13-14 months, I have been depressed. In June of 2016, I was in a really bad shape but I got better. Since the August of 2016, I lost around ten kgs weight, I was working out at that time and then I stopped. This summer I got depressed again, but definitely not as much. During the last two months I've been at home and eventhough I'm not nearly as depressed as the summer before, I feel... I dunno, tired wouldn't be the right word, I'm pretty skinny around 58 kgs with 178 cm height so I'm not energetic like a horse but, when I get out, I feel normal. When I'm at home, I feel the urge to lie down ALL DAY. When I'm walking around, inside our home I feel a bit dizzy from time to time. Sometimes when I wake up, I'm just feeling bad. I have to work at home and this constant state of lethargy isn't helping it.

Could this be steroid withdrawal? Or is it more like clinical depression? I don't use anti-depressants, I despise how they make me feel to be honest. How can I learn what exactly this is?

iPoop said...
Sorry to hear you're suffering. Prednisone withdrawal often includes things like fatigue, bodywide aches, and issues with your sleep cycle. So it's possible that prednisone could in part be related. After a month off of pred your adrenal system and the cortisol it produces should be back to normal levels. If not, you might need to see an endocrinologist, a doctor who specializes in hormones, who can measure your body's cortisol levels and see if you are back within a normal range and if not help you get back into normal range. While you are on high doses of prednisone, your adrenal system goes to sleep and ceases producing Cortisol. Prednisone is a synthetic version of cortisol. As you slowly, slowly taper off of pred the adrenals are supposed to wake back up and resume producing cortisol. You've said you're a long time pred user which increases your odds of adrenal issues. Your taper sounded weird too, which is essential for the adrenals to awaken and begin producing cortisol.

To be honest, I did some homework on pred, I know about the tapering process and why it has to be slow but I'm not a good patient, I have never been. You'd think It's not me who suffered all this time but I never learned to do as I'm told. I recently moved to a new house, at the end of June, I had little prednisolone at stocked so I just didn't bother getting more, to not run out of stock, I took some only when I felt the need, hence my weird taper. Now I'm trying to get by only with mesalamine enemas and pills in addition to Imuran. I have been using Imuran for a long time so I don't think the fatigue is caused by that.

Thanks for your quick answer by the way. I hope my condition isn't related to depression or something like that. I just HATE anti-depressants.