Steroids! prednisolone Tablets

[KateMoss]

Relieve your pred monsters here! Page for Qs & As on oral steroids!KateXXX

[Arniemouse]

Am well monstered on 80 of pred for a week have just shouted at daughter for no reason what could control this please auntie Pengiun

[KateMoss]

Chocolate Elephants!

Would say chocolate penguins but I think they are a wee bit small to control an 80 a day pred habit.

Camomile tea is calming too if choc isoff the menu

Tis difficult to control them pred monsters at times.

Kate

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And i thought it was all me!!! have been on 40mgs off pred for 3years but in total permenant pred for 5 years, they explain all the physical side effects of this i have many!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but not the ones that matter like funny dreams and late night munchies like you have smoked something your not supposed to!!! and the irrational thoughts are just way ut of control!! but hey maybe theres a glimmer at the end of that tunnel am down to 25mgs yipeee although side effects just as strong only know got painful screaming musles how fun, not!!

Happy munching, n choc much more sattisfying than fruit!! just not good for me diabetes!!

Andrea

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ok, my turn to growl

i'm down to 7.5mg pred (yay!!) but its made my pf go wobbly (wobbly for me anyway, though mine seems to be suprisingly stable)

trouble is, even on my tiny tiny dose, the doc thinks he can completely ignore me on the basis that i have pred head. when i know i'm totally sane!! (i am, really i am, no cukoos here, promise!)

anyway, will probably be taken down again today... if i listen carefully i can already hear the crash!

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I am really struggling with the steroids at the minute. I haven't been lower that 20mg since April but now am on 60mg one day and 25mg the next. I seem to have every side effect under the sun and I am really not sure which way is up! The weight is piling on and in very strange places too. My consultant is saying that he wants me to reduce the alternate day by 5mg every 1/2 weeks which I have been doing but struggling. GP suggested I slow it down slightly if I keep struggling. Is anyone else reducing it like this? It seems to me that if my medication is ""yo yoing"" then so will my symptoms? I have to say I am beginning to lose faith in my consultant on several counts too but am being admitted to Brompton for 4 days on 28th March so am holding on to that in a big way! I have managed to stay out of hospital now for about 8 weeks, which for me is some sort of record but it worries me the amount of medication I am having to take to stay like this and will this continue whilst dropping the steroids. Don't get me wrong I can't wait to be off them and although things aren't great atm if I could be as stable as this off the steroids I would be well chuffed!! I can't really remember what a steroid free life feels like anymore!

Anyway enuf whingeing for now, the sun is shining and I managed 3 hours sleep last night so not doing too bad today - maybe it is the start of a good day!

Take care everyone and stay smiling

Foxy xx

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Foxy,

That seems like a very strange combination 60mgs and 25mg alt days how naf do you feel on the 25mg days? my consultant says reduce 5mgs every 6 weeks! especially when on a while as it cocks up your bodies own production, your body must be crying when you reduce, anyway as you said the brompton will sort you out, my friend in ther today she says its excellent. Im happy at the northwests equiverlents at wythenshaew.

Happy wheezing, keep chin yp ( it aids ventilation !!!)

Andrea xx

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Thanks for the reply Andrea. You are right, I tend to start feeling really rough on the afternoon of the lower dose and this lasts until early afternoon of the next day, I guess until the higher dose kicks in. I get a few hours of relief and then the whole cycle starts again! It seems to me that the jump between 60 and 25 is huge and to do that every other day seems very weird. Oh well guess he knows what he is doing! I am seeing him again next Monday and am due to drop again to 60/20 then so think I will have a chat with him before I go any further.

Take care

Foxy xx

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Foxy, defo have a word and dont always assume they know best! sometimes its out of the league but they dont like to admit it! remember its your body and you have a right to say what works best for you. I have only seen an alternation of 5mgs and then reducing a separate one alt times say 60mgs and 55mgs, then drop to 55mg them 55mgs and 50mgs do you see? i would mention this.

Hope you ok

Andrea

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Can Pred cause insommnia?

I have recently been put on pred long term and in the past had intermittent probs with sleeping (was on frequent short courses) but now I am having more problems than ever staying asleep for the whole night and not getting up at ridiculous hours!

Anyone else found this with Pred or is it down to a differnt one of my meds

Thanks

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I'm on long term pred too and have got down to but stuck at 7.5mg again.

On high doses i have problems sleeping. Taking it at night instead of morning helped me or when at 60mg getting up in the middle of the night to take it meant i got to bed at a reasonable hour but maybe i'm just wierd.

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Thanks Marmite,

Always good to know its not just me, I may have to investigate taking it at different times of the day, will talk to cons, not sure how long i will be able to go without sleep and get up in the morning! lol

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anybody else get acne on high dose pred? The last 2 months i have been back up at 40mg + and the spots on my face are really getting to me now. any ideas?

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Hello all! Just wanted to ask, when you say 'stuck on.... mgs', do you mean that if you go lower you become breathless, dizzy, cramps etc., so you have to go back up again a bit?

I got down to 5mg from 7.5mg but had breathlessness for a week, so went to see doc on Friday and asked if i could go back up to 6 or 7mg, then come down at 1mg a time. Unfortunately, got doctor videotaping patients for some exam and have to go back tomorrow to see a REAL gp...

But my thought was, if 2.5mg drop too much, it makes me dizzy and breathless, so maybe I should try 1mg a time, for ? many days. I wonder if 5 days would be enough? I am closely in touch with my poor confused body and its saying, go back up a bit! go back up a bit! then try again later.... (unfortunately the pretend gp hadn't heard of anyone knowing their body better than he did, even though we hadn't met before tee hee)

Dizzy Dancing Crow

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Steroide Use

Help Im on Prednisolone Again!!!!!!

I can't seem to get better!!!!!!!

Any Help or advice would be great!!!!!

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When I say i've got ""stuck"" at a dose of pred i mean that i'm starting to show asthma symptoms again, waking at night needing inhaler/nebs or my peak flow is starting to vary/drop suddenly. I don't mean side effect symptoms of pred. It's just that i'm at the minimum dose of pred to keep my asthma as stable as it can be for the moment and have to be careful to make sure i increase the dose again if my asthma is worsening to avoid hospital. I'm a slightly different case to the majority of asthma patients who have short courses because i'm brittle(like loads of us on here i know!) and my pred is long term and i will never come off it. I only increase/decrease my pred in line with the guidance from my consultant. Hope that makes sense (pred head!)

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Thanks Marmite, that makes perfect sense to me. I'm seeing real gp this avo to ask if I can do that, albeit by 1mg a time in trying to get off them. Am absolutely horrified at how dependent my lungs have become on them, have only been taking them since last April but had so many large short doses, I am trying to wean myself off them and not have to go back for more in a couple of weeks, if you know what i mean.

I felt brilliant on 20mg, a little confused at 15mg, and ok at 10mg except then I started producing the gunk again. Since then, have gone to 7.5 then 5 and all the time been dizzy and breathless and gunky.... it feels really confusing as each gp i see has a different opinion, so thats when i decided i had to start using what little brain i had (Pooh Bear brain)... though now I am actually using my steroid inhaler properly as this new one doesn't give me mouth ulcers.

Seems really hard work at the mo and feeling a bit depressed. Hey ho. Sun will come out soon.

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My consultant has suddenly decided to change his tune about me and the dreaded pred - previously he's always wanted to get the nebs down before reducing the pred too much, now he's decided that it's ok to leave me strugglnig through the day on 5 or 6 nebs as long as we're reducing the pred ? I don't get it ! I hate taking pred but he's put me straight from IV hydrocortisone 200mg to 20mg pred, reducing to 15mg tomorrow. Has anyone else had this before ? I've been on pred for the past 7 months or so, rarely below 20mg. In a way I feel like I'd be better on a slightly higher dose and not getting so many asthma symptoms and reduce slowly than trying to reduce again while still needing to neb so much. I'm confused and bemuddled !

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I would challenge that and get more advice... its you who has to struggle, not him. Ask for explanation or second opinion maybe? From everything I've read on here, and my con at the hospital last week included, the slower the better reducing the pred so body mechanisms and adrenal glands have time to kick in.

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FrenchFi - i had the same problem last year - the docs were absolutely ruthless in cuting my pred down and were quite happy for me to be nebbing every 2 hrs. I managed to get my pred down to 15mg but even the docs had to admit that they couldn't get me any lower. Because i have had to continue nebbing so frequently it has meant that the only thing the docs have been able to do in the last few months with my exacerbations is put my pred back up! Their plan, in my opinion, has backfired as i am now nebbing every 2 hrs and on 40mg of pred!

I would talk to them again and point out that by having to neb more often means that if you have another exacerbation then the only thing that you can do is pout the dreaded pred back up.

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I posted earlier in the week that I seemed to be all over the place cos my steroids were being reduced on alternate days. I had got as far as 60mg one day and 25mg the next, having been on no less that 20mg a day since April and up as high as 60mg. I have got a consultants app on Monday and was going to talk to him about it as I really don't know which was is up and I am due to go into Brompton on 28 March and he wanted me down to 60/10mg by then which to me seems an awfully big difference. Well yesterday Debbie from Brompton phoned me to talk through details for my admission and I mentioned it to her. She could fully understand that I must be all over the place and was a little surprised to say the least that it was being done like this. She has suggested I stay on the same dose i.e. 85mg over two days but try and gradually bring it closer together so I end up on something like 40/45mg. She said I would be feeling worse on the days I take the higher amount cos it takes 24 hours or so for my body to notice the difference. She also said that my emotions must be shot!! It was nice for someone to confirm how I had been feeling as I was beginning to think I was cracking up!! So heres hoping that by getting the two doses closer together it may help. It also gives me confidence that Brompton def know what they are talking about and they maybe able to give me some answers with regard to the overall stability of my asthma!! Can hope anyway!!

Keep smiling

Foxy xx

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Hi foxy,

so glad you got some answers and decent ones at that!! Heres to you feeling a bit more human and stable and to the bromp getting you sorted.

Andrea x

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Hi guys -

Keep at it, it took me two years to come off pred, after taking 50mg/day for 2 years. I had to cut down by 1/2 mg a week in the end then I'd get back up then down and then up. But in the end I did it and now last course I had was in December which I think is fantastic.

You'll get there, good luck.

J xx

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Steriods Prednesolone Tablets.

Last year in nov/dec my asthma took a turn for the worst my medication then was Budsonide turbo 400 one puff twice a day, servent acchuhlar one puff twice aday. plus reliever terbutaline turbo when needed, then as my asthma got worst i got put put on a 3 day course of predisolone tablets tablets, that control it 4 a while, then 10 days later i got put on a 5 day course of these tablets. then i had my inhaler changed to seretide 500 and then my symptoms got better. I am ok now.

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I posted a couple of days ago about my cons trying to get my pred down quickly - well I followed his advice and dropped to 15mg yesterday and am now needing to neb 2 hourly which is ridiculous when I'm trying to work (colleagues even commenting on my breathing sounding bad and I can barely move around the office). Tried to get through to my consultant, speak to secretary but am not getting any answers back... really don't know what to do. Should I take the pred back up to 20mg ? I wasn't good at that but could at least go 3 hours between nebs or do I try to persist at 15mg ? Without being able to get through to my cons I'm not sure which way to go...

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My son, Alfie, is on alternate day pred and has been for some time now. He is a manic monster. He runs around, climbs things, jumps, shouts,hits, bites, screams and can't sit still from the moment he wakes til he finally collapses in a heap. |Even when he's wheezing and coughing he's on the go. He has to be virtually unconscious before he stops and rests. At night he sleeps about 4 hours and then we're off again. With the wheeze at least we can hear which room he's ransacking. His latest appointment showed that he's developing a possible heart problem which is being linked with his meds. His consultant said that she was sorry that she indirectly turned my gorgeous child into a pred monster. Will he return if he eventually finishes with the pred?

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Have you tried talking to you gp frenchfi?

I have another prolbem with steroids which i need some advice for. As i saisd in an earlier post i get terrible spopts when my pred dose goes up, this affects my face and my breasts - i can just about deal with the spots on mi face but the ones on my chest end up getting infected and the skin wont heal. I have got ab cream which i use and thye do eventualluy clear up but the scaring is awful. I dont pick thme but they rub on clothing etc and weep everywhere - all in all it is realluy dissgusting

Does anyone else have similar problems? Tehy r realuy geting me donw

sory bout the typign - brian is befudled

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Hi Rusty

Whenever I take pred I always go spottier than normal too. I have mentioned it to my ""oh so wonderful"" gp and they said it was because I am a teenager. I am now thinking otherwise. When I last had them and they were infected I saw my GP as they were weeping and really sore. My GP accused me of being a hypocondriac. I give up, hope everyhting gets sorted for you.

Love

Steph x xx x

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Rusty, Hi! Poor babe. Try some Vit E cream on the scars, it really works.

Love Wendy x

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prednisolone turning son into child from hell

hi everyone im new to posting messages but have found that this site is a great help to me.

My son is 9yrs old and has been on pred since last september on and off, his consultant has now put him on 10mg alternative days and he is a nightmare, he doesnt sleep for more than 2hrs at a time, hes aggressive, abusive and very emotional, he is constantly on the go, and hes constantly hungry, i even have to send him to school with snacks cause he will sit and cry that he is starving,.

Im thinking of asking his consultant on wed to see if he can give him anything to help him sleep, dont think they will though its a case of these are the side effects and deal with them.

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Suzy6,

I have to say that it makes me very similar and I am 30!!!! My husband used to think i was behaving like a spoilt brat but now knows its the pred. When does your son take his pred? I find that if it is taken early in the morning - I take mine at 4 am ish it works with the body and i get a bit more sleep. There is nothing worse than a pred munchie - you just have to eat, the hunger seems to make the emotional side of mine worse, when i am hungry I have to eat or will end up in tears regardless of where i am - I had to have McD chips the other night ( don't usually eat that type of thing) and ended up a sobbing mess till i got what i felt i needed.

Try speaking to your sons asthma nurse she may have a few more suggestions. I often find her more helpful than a GP.

Sending hugs to keep you sane

Chrissie

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hi thanks for the reply, he takes his steroids at about 7.30am, thats when his consultant said he should take them, i will speak to them about changing the time he takes them when i go on wednesday, thanks for the support

andrea

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suzy6

Which tablets does your son use. If its either the soluable ones or the red coted ones the addtives may not be helping. They do the white ones which we use for my son as he has allergies to additives.

He would still be moody but no where near as hyper.

Good luck

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My 3 year old, Alfie, is also on (alternate day) pred (the little red ones - non soluble) he is mad. He is constantly on the go. Only sleeps for about 3 hours in 24 he spends most of the night playing on my bed with cars and lego. He has become incredibly destructive. Throwing his toys, tearing up books. He is also becoming agressive. He has been on pred since about november. His adrenal function is decreasing now too - I hate pred but it is keeping him out of picu.

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hi my son is on the soluble tablets as he prefers these,just had to bring him home from nanas (there goes my sleep for the night,ha ha)as he has had 10 puffs of ventolin and is complaining of chest pains, reece is 9yrs old so i dont have the problem of him playing with toys on the bed thank god, he just wanders around the house all night waking everyone up including his sister, hes not destructive towards his belongings but if he cant get his own way then he becomes very abusive and bad tempered,i just wish we could get him of the steroids but at the minute hes so unpredicable with his attacks its impossible.

thanks for the support i really appreciate it.