Wellness

[Nikalette]

Double post

[nagrom]

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.

[151949]

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?

[happycat]

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.

[violann]

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.

[PalmTree11]

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.

[LilacTree]

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.)

[RedTop]

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.

[Bobbi sue]

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.

[vaberry]

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.