Depression

[Shandon1]

Very bad drepression for last few days with 12.5 preb. Cannot shake it off!

[trish29]

So sorry to hear this Dubliner1. Are you taking anything else with the Prednisolone .. I found I got the Blues on Amitriptyline and I'm also very tearful on Leflunomide .. Please get this checked out with your GP as soon as possible .. Although I've been fighting PMR for 10 years I'm not pro enough to give you any advice other than that We All Care on this Forum and getting depressed drags you down . Hope you feel better soon trish29

[Green_girl]

Please see your GP, as Trish 29 says. You don't want the depression to get worse, or drag you down too far. The GP should be able to help - I had to have help with a small dose of anti-depressant. It's not great having to take more pills, but in the short term they will see you through. Just remember to only take them for as long as you need them and not beyond - and take as small a dose as makes you feel OK. And keep talking with your GP through the treatment. I was on them for about a year and took just enough to lift my mood, but not enough to make me feel 'spaced out'. This was all done with the GP discussing it with me and guiding me, and sorting out the tapering off process.

The GP may be able to refer you to a Rheumy in order to have pred by jab - Depomedrone (doesn't seem to have the same side effects, apart from still damaging your bones). I had this as I had been made depressed by some steriods I'd had earlier in the year, so knew already what the drug would do to me and didn't want that again. The jabs were better - but because treatment with Depo was so far down the line into my journey with PMR, I had still managed to get very depressed before the Depo was started - it was caused just by the awfulness of the condition!! And a leaflet given to me by the Rheumy on PMR/GCA says that the condition can make you very depressed...so it's obviously a well-known effect. I came off the Anti-depressants well before I started to taper off the Depo and was just fine.

Depo is far more fiddly than taking tablets - done by a rheumy nurse in hospital - and is hence more expensive so is not offered much in the UK; but if the depression is really, really bad this may be something to explore - but it doesn't work as well as tabs for everyone.

All of this needs to be discussed in full with the medics in relation to you, and you alone - not just copying what I had. One size does not fit all, sadly. But the depression needs addressing however the GP decides to tackle it.

Good luck and hope you feel much brighter very soon.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Green_girl]

I think you may have been very lucky - my granddaughter was on depomedrone for her severe brittle asthma and whilst we had 4 months with no hospital admissions the side effects were so bad she had to be taken off them. We have never seen mood swings like it and she gained about 20kg in weight in a couple of months.

I also found the side effects with oral methyl prednisolone horrendous whereas prednisolone had been fine overall and prednisone has proven to be brilliant.

As you say - one size doesn't fit all and we are all so different in our PMR and in our response to steroids.

[Griggser]

Hope you feel a bit more upbeat soon. I had a bad case of the blues for a fed weeks, have now been on methotrexate for just over a week and staring to feel better. I am still on 20mg of pred and will need to taper this down after a few weeks whilst I build up the methotrexate. I think having a good rest over the last week also helped and I am being careful not to push myself just because I feel a bit better. Slow easy seems to be the moto. Good luck and try to keep your chin up.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Like the rest I'm here to emphasise you MUST talk to your GP or rheumatologist. Whilst depression is not uncommon in both PMR and with pred, if it is too bad it requires medical help.

[Shandon1]

Thanks to all replies. Very helpful and encouraging!

[hwigston]

My GP has given me Hypericum (St John's Wort) for mild depression. It's a homeopathic remedy and supposed to be non-addictive.