topic Re: Prednisone, What is your experience? in Wellness

Prednisone, What is your experience?

Bobbi sue — Sat, 31 May 2014 17:29:12 GMT

I have severe COPD. The Dr. just put me on this drug and I hate it. am gaining weight and it is affecting my eyes and mood. I am going to stop taking it. What is your experience with this drug Prednisone? Thank you.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

lolakimono — Sat, 31 May 2014 17:31:12 GMT

I've taken it over the years for numerous allergic reactions. It usually does the trick, but I would not want to be on it long term.

It makes me hungry, tired, and bloated.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

Shelbelle — Sat, 31 May 2014 17:31:55 GMT

Everything from feeling really great to blurry vision.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

gazelle77 — Sat, 31 May 2014 17:32:14 GMT

dangerous long term.... doctors dole it out like candy and do not tell patients the awful side effects.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

SAVANAHGIRL — Sat, 31 May 2014 17:34:10 GMT

I've only taken it twice years apart for two bouts of bronchitis. It really helped me, and I was lucky, I guess. I didn't have any side effects.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

PalmTree11 — Sat, 31 May 2014 18:10:43 GMT

I just had a long reply but it didn't post. Took it at a high dose for an extended period and it was awful. I will always have the horrendous stretch marks on my thighs from the overnight 30 lb weight gain. I developed moon face, insatiable appetite and thirst, got pneumonia and broke ribs because it affects your bones. Became borderline diabetic and developed high cholesterol. Awful, will never take it for an extended period again.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

conlt — Sat, 31 May 2014 18:13:16 GMT

It does have long term effects but so does your COPD. How are you breathing and how severe is your COPD? What physical limitations does your COPD put on you? Are you any better off respiratory wise on the Prednisone? I do think you need to discuss the benefits and side effects against the severity of your COPD.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

focksie — Sat, 31 May 2014 18:14:58 GMT

It is a very potent and dangerous drug. I would find out if there are any alternatives for your medical issue. I always research drugs that I have been prescribed before taking them (even prescription vitamin D, which I started a thread about!) then if I have questions, I go back to my doctor or pharmacist and ASK.

You cannot stop prednisone cold turkey so make sure if you decide to stop, to check with your doctor about how to be weaned off of it. It can have devastating effects if you just stop it.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

lovescats — Sat, 31 May 2014 18:39:35 GMT

it could increase your blood sugar

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

Nikalette — Sat, 31 May 2014 18:42:15 GMT

Since you're a former nurse, I'm sure you know not to stop prednisone suddenly. There needs to be a gradual taper, hopefully under your doctor's supervision. I took prednisone twice,once for pneumonia and once when I had a bad throat and needed to sing at church our choir director was behind that, lol. My doc reluctantly went along on a. 3 day course. It works very, very well, gave me an incredible euphoria and I remember staying up all night cleaning my house. The downside is that long term use will cause puffiness, increased blood sugar levels, fragile skin and other side effects. I have asthma and breathing problems. There are other treatments. Was this prescribed by a lung doc or your PCP. Maybe you need a specialist's opinion.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

Nikalette — Sat, 31 May 2014 18:42:43 GMT

Double post

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

nagrom — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:08:47 GMT

I have been on prednisone several times over the years including long term periods. It is a blessing and a curse. Sleeplessness, lack of patience, shaking, immense hunger, weight gain are among the various effects but sometimes nothing else works. One time when tapering down slowly I got such severe shakes preventing me from shutting down my computer at work. Was sent home via taxi and not allowed to drive. There are so many side effects but if you are on it and stop and next time put back on prednisone you may have different reactions than you had in the past. For me it it the last drug when nothing else works. It is the difference between being admitted into the hospital until your condition is stable and your oxygen levels are at a normal range.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

151949 — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:17:16 GMT

I have asthma and need to take prednisone in a small dose to control it. Do i have side effects - yes, of course. I have gained weight in my abdomen and my face and my skin is getting thin and creapy. However, I do have many less asthma attacks and my breathing is way improved. Generally, I feel better, so I put up with the side effects. I don't want to go back to never feeling like I can get a full breath again. As for the vision problems - my eye doctor said taking prednisone is akin to feeding miracle grow to your cataracts so that may be the problem - have you gone to the eye doctor?

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

happycat — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:30:35 GMT

I have been on it for almost 3 weeks, during which time I have gained 7 lbs. I was given this for a rash. The rash is better, I have 3 days left on the prednisone, I am kind of afraid the rash may come back. I do not like it at all. I knew I would gain weight, the prescribing dr said to "just be aware of what you are eating when you eat" Yeah, ok. Well, I feel like I am starving to death.

Also, I found out yesterday that I have a stress fracture in my foot that I did not have when I went to the podiatrist 2 weeks ago. I was thinking it could affect your bones and I just read Palm Tree 11's post, and if I wasn't on this prednisone, I probably wouldn't have developed a fracture and that now I am really ticked. I do not have time for this.

I am tapering down now, taking one pill a day for the next 3 days, I wonder what would happen if I just quit taking them? I am gonna call the pharmacy.

Bobbysue, I am sorry are having health issues. I hope your drs can find something else for you. Do you see a specialist? My dad has COPD, earlier this year he developed a cough, and was tired all the time and his lung dr changed some of his meds around and it has seemed to help.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

violann — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:34:52 GMT

So sorry you're dealing with COPD. I've taken it a number of times, short courses only, and never had a problem at all with it, and also I've never had any problem stopping it. Did your doctor tell you whether you'd be taking it for a long- or short- term? Should add, a relative took it for several decades as a treatment for Wegener's Granulomatosis, Andreas weaned off before she died of other causes at age 83.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

PalmTree11 — Sat, 31 May 2014 19:45:11 GMT

Happycat, so sorry to hear about your foot. May or may not be a result of the pred, so don't beat yourself up over it. Your doc will probably tell you no, that your course of treatment wasn't high enough or long enough. I was on an extremely high dose for over 2 mos. before I broke my ribs. I'm glad you only have 3 days left! Hopefully your foot heals quickly and without any lasting effects.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

LilacTree — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:08:32 GMT

Short term, it is a godsend and will not hurt you. Long term it is slowly killing me, and once that monkey is on your back, it doesn't get off.

I came down with RA in 2004, the same year I retired. After trials of several different medications and treatments, they came up with prednisone. I don't remember the initial dose I was on, but I have been on it long term (ten years) low dose (under 10 mgs) ever since then. I have not taken the biologics.

I had no idea what the prednisone was doing to me inside and out. Some docs were nonchalant about it, and some were not. However, I am now in the process of trying to taper it off AGAIN (have tried this several times and have never been successful). I am right now down to 6 mgs a day. The pain has increased (I am tapering 1 mg about every six weeks since last October), and until it becomes "Mack Truck" pain, I will persist. I have gotten as far down as 5 mg a day just once before, and I couldn't bear the pain and had to go back up to 10 mgs again to get back to normal (what's normal . . . I don't even know anymore).

I will tell you what it has not done to me. I lost 20 lbs. and have not gained it back. I never got and still do not have the "moon face." I never got "roid rage," or had any increase in energy, but quite the opposite . . . I have been extremely fatigued and exhausted for ten years.

Now I will tell you what it has done to me. It has totally destroyed my bones. I have the highest (which are actually the lowest) osteoporosis scores most doctors have seen. I had/have ten compressed fractures in my spine, two of which I had kyphoplasty surgery for last year and which made no difference in my pain level. The shape of my body has changed due to my decreased height, I never had a stomach before, but I now wake up with a flat stomach and by the time I go to bed, I look six months pregnant. I have such thin skin that as much as a tiny pinch on my arms will give me a purple bruise. Right now I have seven bruises on my left arm (don't even know how I got them) and three healing bruises on my right arm. I have ugly brown growths all over my body. I have diagnosed cataracts now and have to wear corrective lenses for the first time in my life. I will soon need cataract surgery.

Couple all of that with advanced RA anyway, my hands and fingers, my arms don't go over my head anymore, my shoulders and hips crack (don't know if that's the osteo or the RA), I can't walk more than just around my tiny apartment, and that's mostly with a back brace on. I have to be in a wheelchair pushed by my kids when I go out. I can't bend over, I can't clean or make my own bed, I can't do laundry, I can't stand at the stove to cook for more than five minutes, so I have to eat all processed frozen foods that I can microwave. I haven't been in a store of any kind in almost six years. I do my food shopping online and either my kids pick it up or I have to have it delivered. Oh, and my teeth, that I have spent thousands of dollars on over the decades, are rotting out of my mouth anyway. I am 76, but have the health level of someone 20 years older. Thankfully, I still have my mind.

My point in telling you all of this is . . . prednisone is a godsend for very short term use. Anything more than three months is going to put you on a path of disaster. It is like a drug addiction, since one cannot come off it without long term tapering, which is a very painful and arduous process, and most of the time it does not work.

I hope you can find another way to solve your COPD problems. And I hope I haven't scared you out of your wits. But I feel strongly about this medication and how it has ruined my life and aged me far beyond how I would have aged without it. So I decided to be honest with you.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do. (Your doctor will hate me.)

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

RedTop — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:21:00 GMT

I agree with short-term use, but nothing long term. I think Fords post is the ultimate explanation of why we should avoid long term usage of this and other steroid medications.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

Bobbi sue — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:29:13 GMT

Ford, I'm glad you posted. I called the drug store and spoke with the pharmacist. She advised me to taper off. Tomorrow I will take one pill for a few days and then one half for a few days and be done with it. I will never take this drug again. Again, thanks for your input.

Re: Prednisone, What is your experience?

vaberry — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:33:21 GMT

I took for poison ivy. I had never had a reaction to poison ivy in 20 some years, went out in the yard and cleared it all out. I took no precautions- shorts, v neck t-shirt, flip flops. Four days later and bam. Every inch the stuff had touched I was broken out and huge blisters. The doctor gave me a shot of prednisone and I was on it for twelve days. On day 3, my lips were like the woman in the National Geographic shot where she has something in her lips to make them stick out. Swelling from the poison ivy and the meds, I looked like a puff ball. I don't get high or drunk so the out of control high was freaky to me. I could not stop the stuff cold turkey so for 3 weeks I was screwed up. In my case, the dose was to high and my body reacted badly to it.

Prednisone is serious medication.