Terrified of going on Prednisone

Prednisone is one of those medications we have a love/hate relationship with.

The love is that Pred is rocketship fast in helping us feel better, it's an effective rescue medication that buys us time while other treatments are given time to work.

The hate is the temporary side effects from pred, which are likely to occur. No sugar-coating it, pred sucks in that regard. There's no guaranteeing what will happen with side effects, seems it is often very different each time. Some of the more consistent ones I've had are: insomnia, rapid heart beat, night sweats, insatiable appetite that leads to weight gain, wild mood swings and heightening of existing anxieties/anger, my face gets puffy and I get bloated. There's no avoiding side effects, best you can do is avoid salt to reduce bloating/moonface. Consume extra calcium and potassium while on the pred. And of course be on the pred for the shortest time that is possible.

Pred is good for temporary usage and has it's place when we're flaring really, really badly. We'll often try to avoid it when possible, as you tried. You did the right thing by trying clipper/uceris/budesonide first.l Sometimes we can avoid the pred and other times it is necessary. When it's needed, you deal with the aforementioned side effects.

Living with UC for a long time, we tend to set aside our vanity. Rapid weight loss (both fat and muscle) in flares is common with about 20 pounds (or 9 kilograms) being average for bad flares. Rapid weight gain from pred is common. Flares can cause us to have thinning hair. UC is pretty harsh on us.

Prednisone can take effect nearly instantaneously, it can take a few days, a week, or sometimes two weeks. It really depends how bad your UC flare is, and whether you have an adequately strong prednisone dosage (you have 30mgs which sounds about right; 20-40mgs is common to start). I've had it work in a couple days during mild flares, and take two weeks during my very worst flare. Varies.

As you taper down the dosage, the side effects tend to get more mild. At above 20mgs it was the worst, I had insomnia, night sweats, wild mood swings etc. When I got below 20, it was mostly mild side effects. Generally 2-weeks-post pred I was nearly normal. Of course, if you over-eat due to insatiable pred appetite then that won't magically come off, it's responsible eating and exercise to loose that weight. Just make sure to tell your significant others that you might be a little loopy or not yourself while on it. It makes us all a little nutty, but it is just temporary.

Im on Pred now[down to 20 from 50 mg] and have been on it many times it sucks but does work fast.Never had i had weight gain[im 6'5-230] but tired/not tired syndrome,sweats,mood swings.

if it were me, i'd just do a 1-2 week course, start at 40-60 and quick taper -

Worst side effect this time being on Pred is after taste of whatever I eat. It's bad plus burps are nasty. Nothing taste good