Prednisone

[Viklou]

Hi I'm being prescribed Prednisone. Can anyone give advice on this medication. Not taken it before and I've been told about the side effects. Half of me thinks stuff it and just take the stuff, the other half is saying hang on an think about it.

[012703060610]

Everyone certainly has a different experience on prednisone. Dosage will play a key role. I was left on 40mgs a day for about 4 months and didn't sleep. I went insane due to sleep deprivation. This doesn't happen to all and doctors need to be talking about this side effect more often. There are literal psychiatric effects to the med. It does give you a boost on your dose and then fades away. I would talk for a mile a minute and clean the house and then would be sobbing on the floor. It took me an entire year to wean off. Now many others are on even higher doses and fought through some of the initial side effects and are now living pretty well and functioning without the side effects. I can honestly say I don't remember a lot of those four months. I use it now when in a severe flare-20 mgs 3 days, 10 mgs 3 days, 5 mgs 3 days and seem to manage ok as it is short term. The problem with prednisone is it starts making cortisol for you. I became in panic that if I missed my dose I would die.....I don't think this is true, but that was the kind of mental reaction I had to it. I had to taper down to 1 mg a day and it was a struggle. The one side effect that NO ONE told me about is constipation. I think it is probably best to follow your Drs advice and see how you react. Just be educated on how it impacts people differently. I have a friend no 100 mgs a day and she does OK. She only gets about 6 hours of sleep and has figured out how to manage the constipation and now even get back to working.

[Viklou in reply to 012703060610]

I've seen you comment on my other post lol. I have Crohn's too but only ever taken Budesonide before which was great. I had a feeling this was the next stage for the plexopathy so I weaned off the Budesonide in May. With the nerve damage I've had issues going to the bathroom anyway and became really uncomfortable. When speaking to the Gastro at the end of March I had no active inflammation from a CT I had in January so made sense to stop the Budesonide anyway.

Recently I've started feeling nauseous, cold sweats and bathroom time is increasing so the pred will calm all that down too.

The dose I think is only 20mg over 8 weeks. I'm hoping to get the manic energy side effect rather than the depression as I'm feeling pretty rubbish anyway. Thanks for you comments, I am grateful to read your experience xx

[012703060610 in reply to Viklou]

The good news is it is only 8 weeks. I do hope you taper though after the 8 weeks. Just hydrate as much as you can to avoid food cravings and to keep your bowels moving. I did get prednisone moon face and acne came back like I was 15 again. However, once I was off, it went away very quickly. So don't fear if that happens!

[rg1987]

Prednisone is a corticosteroid, you take it in short (6-8 week) courses. I have UC and I was prescribed prednisone last time I had a bad flare. It really helped me get through the flare, although coming off the drug can be tricky as sometimes the flare comes back once you're completely off the drug. The main side effect for me was insomnia. I would go to bed as usual and wake up 3am every night unable to fall back asleep. It also affects bone density, so I was taking high dose calcium supplements.

[LippyLu]

I take 30 mg daily when I’m in a flare and taper down to 10 mg/day, which is my regular maintenance dose. I don’t get any moon face, weight gain, sleep disturbances or other side effects at any of those levels. It helps my mood as well as keeping inflammation at bay, but my doctor wants me to get off it completely, which scares me. Last time I tapered down to 5 mg and then had a UC flare. I’m trying pro and prebiotics now to see if they allow me to get off prednisone without flaring. I am very grateful for this medication.

[Viklou in reply to LippyLu]

Thanks for this very helpful xx