Prednisone Side Effects Clarification

Baggravation, those all sound like normal side efects of prednisone to me. Unfortunately, it helps a ton with reducing inslammation but it has some really awful side effects. How long were you on it for? The longer you were on, the more side effects and the longer they take to subside. I am still dealign with soem side effects and I've been off for a couple months. I am finally starting to feel normal but it's been a long road. I've read that the side effects and hang around for the length of time you were on the drug. I remember my side effects began showing up after 3 months on the drug. I was on it for a year about, I could probably have minor side effects for another 3-6 months, maybe longer. I hope i am one of the lucky ones who see them disappear much sooner but so far, no luck. I didn't have side effects at 40mg either, or 30mg, it was when I was stuck on 15mg for a long time that I started noticing the side effects. It's really difficult to deal with but stay calm, they will go away - the moodiness too!! 5mg to 0 can be a shock to some systems, if you notice any symptoms, you may want to slow down. I went at .5mg a week to 0. I relapsed twice and thought i would never get off prednisone.

I really feel for you. I was on Budesonide enemas for one month and Prednisone for three months. I found that my side-effects were way worse from the Budesonide than the Prednisone. I had a 25 lb. weight gain, facial hair, acne, horrible mood swings, lack of energy, muscle weakness, headaches - you name it, I had it. I noticed side-effects within 3 days of taking the enemas. The Drs. and pharmacists couldn't believe the systemic side-effects that I got from the enema.

I am happy to say that I have been off all steroids since mid-March and my face has returned to normal. I am still dealing with 20 extra pounds, but it is slowly starting to come off. I wish you well.

I'm right there with you girls. Hating the side effects of prednisone. I am currently at 40mg..

The moon-face and weight gain are definitely associated with prednisone.

I HATE these side effects.

I've been on pred before and have had same things.

I'm constantly hungry, and continuously eating. Luckily, I've been pretty good on what I'm putting in my mouth, but still consuming a lot. I exercise approx 2hrs everyday to try to counteract some of it, yet have still gained about 5 pounds in the last two weeks. I'm getting so mad and frustrated.

I can't wait to be off the EVIL prednisone...  even though on the flipside I AM very grateful that the pred works for me and stops my flares.

Steriod use is defenately different for everyone!

 

I suprised my doc yesterday as I'm on my 3rd week of Pred and hardly have any noticable side effects.  But on Hydroctorisone enemas (100mg) a had bad side effect right away!  Also tried Budesonide suppositories (2mg) and had only swollwn ankles for 2 weeks then they went away.

 

Remember Steriod also produce harmones and it seems that most of the side effects are due to excess estrogen (at least for me)...so if you're taking birth control that can contribut to the side effects.

 

I also had my Adrenal level check prior to steriods and it's below normal in the AM so I also have some wiggle room.

 

Different steriod work differently too. Apparently Hydrocrotisone produce too much estrogen for me but Predisnone isn't producing enought. I beleive my birthcontrol is keeping my estrogen levels normal with the Pred whereas with the Hydrocortisone it was way too high.

We would ALL love that..min side effects!!

Most doctors really don't understand how steroids work. For drug info like that the docs normally go to a Pharm-D that specializes in that drug category. I also heard that mental side effects in women is caused by the testosterone level hitting zero, so a simple hormone replacement should work.

Check out the side effect's of excess/deficiency on Skip's website: http://www.skipspharmacy.com/wplog/services/hormone-replacement-hrt/

Also here's a site with info on steroids: http://www.gotodrdoyle.com/the-great-one-william-mck-jefferies-md.php

@ Peace&Harmony - I think I'm going to go talk to my pharmacist about the current medication I am taking. She seems to be so much more knowledgable on everything in comparison to my doctor. I think she [my doctor] prescribes the same thing to everyone and if one thing fails, she moves onto the next drug. Thanks for sharing what you know, again! :D I will be checking out that website right now!

@ Supa - Our side effects are EXACTLY the same! I'm sorry to hear that the back hump didn't go away. I have that too and it just won't go away and my upper body looks HUGE because of it. I hate it, as well! I'm not taking calcium right now but I'll totally get on that! I'll buy a huge bottle of that from my drugstore tomorrow! Thanks for your kind words. They mean so much! :)

Posty-not everyone has the weight gain, as well as the other side effects, and when they start is highly individual as well. I started out feeling great in terms of my energy level (the bleeding didn't go away entirely for me until I got onto the TNF blockers), and for the first few weeks, i was like the energizer bunny, and I felt like maybe I had escaped the weight gain. But then about a month in, it started, and within a 2 month period, I had put on a ton of weight. I stopped gaining when I tapered.

It is superficial, but it is something I think we all worry about!! For me, it was one of the worst side effects. I just felt so so low and horrible about myself. Some people seem to be able to control the weight gain by eating healthy and drinking lots of water, limiting salt intake, etc. But that only made a 5 pound difference for me (50 pounds gained on my first course when I didn't watch my eating, 45 pounds gained on my second course when I was diligent about my eating). I just seem to be one of those people who gains a lot of pred, despite my best efforts. But not everyone does!!!! You might not-it is just hard to say for sure. It doesn't hurt though to just try as best you can to watch what you eat and drink.

Good luck-I hope you don't have any major issues with the steroids. I am curious to know why your doc immediately went to steroids? And what else do they have you on? Steroids are a reasonable short term fix, but you need to have other meds in your arsenal. Generally, my docs have used steroids as a last line of defense as opposed to the first line of defense.

Supa - I have lost half of my hair (very literally) since I tapered as well. I also had the back hump. It is unbelievable what those pills can do. If they work to put you into remission, it is worth the price, but if they don't (as it was in my case), it is a whole lot of suffering for nothing.

bellydonna, I COMPLETELY agree!!!! Pred helps, but has never put me even close to remission. That is one of the reasons I have vowed to be on death's door before I take it again. The side effects are too vast and the positive effect too small to warrant its use for me again.

Isn't the hair loss just sucky??? I don't know how yours goes, but I lose mine all over, so as it grows back in, my hair just looks dumb. It has grown in now since last June, and I am headed to the salon on Wednesday to try and get a new cut to help all of it blend in. BLECH.

As far as the humps, peace&harmony, they are usually fat. They shrink, and for some go away completely (and some never get it at all), but definitely not fluid. At this stage in my life, I am not willing to do anything about it, but I might one day. Hardly feminine, I will tell you that!!!

I hate that you all have such a wide array of bad experiences with the dreaded pred, but also glad to be able to vent about it with people who understand!!! When i tell people I will have to be close to death to take it again, they usually look at me like I have 5 heads, but they have never been on them at all, or have only done short stints for things like poison ivy and such. NOT the same thing at.all.

posty626

I went to Mayo Clinic and the doc told me to stay on the high dose Pred until you are symptom free for a week..then taper 5mg/week. I heard people having problems taper after 10mg and it been suggested to go slower after 10...say 7.5, 5, 2.5. If symptoms come back you need to increase up to the last dose you were symptom free and wait for those symptoms to disappear. Not worth tapering fast. Also while tapering off Pred you should be on a maintenance med. If your symptoms keep coming back maybe the maintenance med i snot working.

So far I'm finishing week 3 on 40mg and symptoms are becoming less and less. Hopefully I'll be able to start tapering by next week.

@ shleybrook - I am experiencing the exact same things! My doctor also told me the weight gain was mostly water weight and it would just drop after I stopped taking Prednisone. Now that I'm off Prednisone, my weight gain is still there and I have HORRIBLE joint/muscle pains! I also have the mini-hump on my back which makes me look HUGE. I would also love to hear any suggestions on how to deal with this. This is something new I've tried which I think may help. I'm not too sure if this is healthy or not so someone with more knowledge please do clarify this for me. I was reading this form and someone had mentioned that the mini-hump on the back in fat. Then I did some research online and our body uses carbs as a main source of energy. If you get up in the morning and exercise before you've eaten anything (carbs) then your body will resort to fat as a fuel source, thus burning weight. I don't know how accurate this all is but I've been getting up in the morning and biking about a kilometre on the exercise bike in front of the TV before breakfast in hopes of burning the fat and losing the bloated abdomen and mini-hump. I've also been watching what I'm eating now. I know this may sound horrible but I know that once I start eating, I have a hard time stopping. So what I do is I try to start as late as possible. Like right in the morning, its easy for me to not eat as much but if I have a banana or anything small, I just go crazy with the food. So I feel like if I eat towards the end of the day, like closer to when I'm going to bed and then I just hop onto the exercise bike, I can burn off what I just ate and then go to bed. I'm not exactly starving myself because I'll eat quite a bit but this way I won't eat like 1000 calories over what I should. You may not want to do this because apparently it really messes up your metabolism. I may actually stop doing this myself. I'm going to have to talk to a dietician about this. There's this website called Sparkpeople and they have different meals and goals and things that could be beneficial to you. I printed off some of their stuff. To be honest, I followed it for a few days and then quit. You need a lot of self-motivation. The nice thing is that they send frequent e-mails to your account so you don't forget. That really helps.