Not Feeling Myself After Prednisone

Hello, I just completed a prednisone treatment, and I’m wondering if I tapered too fast. It’s been two full weeks with zero medication and I am feeling fatigued, some depression and headaches. My GI symptoms seem to have gotten worse as well. Not a flare but I definitely feel some inflammation in my gut.

I have an appointment with my gastro in a few weeks, wondering what y’alls thoughts are. I’m super worried I messed up my adrenals. The last week has been a battle to not feel moody and be productive at work. Thank you

That is a super fast taper Sara....how long were u on pred and what was the max dosage this time?

Mindoverbutter...inflammation is a flare, unless you have something else going on.

Can you not use mesalamine? You could ask for steroid enemas at the very least at this point. I wouldnt wait till yiur appointment, call your GI and let him/her know how you're feeling.

q

No, don't take both at the same time. Your taper was sufficient. Sounds like you might need to add another med if you feel like you're flaring again. I get depressed when I'm starting to flare. Sorry you got suicidal thoughts on it. That happened to me once too. Scary. I can't handle those high IV doses.

Hi. An update.
Starting uceris helped my fatigue and low fever. However after a week-10 days of uceris, I developed more cramping and bloody stools and low grade fever came back.

I was just in the hospital in April and we did Prednisone @ 40mg. I’ve been waiting this whole time to see a GI end of july to talk biologics.

I’m getting burnt out, I may take myself to the ER tomorrow.

Really sorry to hear.

Waiting 3 months for a follow-up after being hospitalized is unacceptable. Are you in the U.S.? If so, I would definitely be looking for another doc. I know other countries it can be more difficult to find a different doctor, but there should be some way that you can communicate. Leaving a patient to be on steroids or suffer for 3 months is just wrong.

Hope you get some relief soon

Your tapering schedule was decent. Your problem may not be that you tapered too fast, but that your body is still just unwell. It's normal to feel fatigued and depressed after you get off prednisone. Depending on how long you were on it, it can take months for the adrenals to recover when you fully stop. It's important to eliminate all stress from your life, even minor stress. Stress also includes things that injure your body, like intense exercise, or foods that disagree with you. Anytime you get that little adrenaline kick because you're stressed or upset, that is a no no when you have recently gotten of prednisone.

You should also consider taking adrenal support. Google herbs and vitamins for adrenals, and work with those.

People with IBD generally have low cortisol because their body has depleted it all by fighting inflammation. You can support the cortisol pathway with bio-identical hormones, but for those you would need to see a naturopath. MDs generally don't know how to do that.

When I'm coming off prednisone, I take 50mg of pregnenolone and 25mg of DHEA daily for about 3 months. I also do heavy mineral supplementation, especially magnesium and boron, and get lots of vitamin C. The adrenals have the highest concentration of vitamin C in the body.