Checking symptoms

Hi all. This is my 4th day of pred 15mg in morning I'm taking with youghut as some of yr suggestions cause I'm not a breakfast person but I just wanted to check in with some symptoms I been have for the last 2 days. Pain has near enough gone which is great but I'm getting bad heartburn worse than usual which I take tablets for every day. I've had vision problems well j sY problems it like zig zag colour light just the one side of my eye which lasted about 15minutes also my reading glasses seem to be hurting my eyes and not working as clear as they was few says ago. When I go to bed It comes and goes but I can hear my heart beating well I think I can. Has anyone had these symptoms if they are side effects from pred

[SnazzyD]

Hello, some people certainly say they can hear the blood pumping through their ears more. I certainly was aware of my heart beat when I started on Pred, though it was at a higher dose and I can’t remember when it stopped. Pred also changes the way the eye focuses so a previously ok glasses prescription can become off. My optician said it’ll keep changing with dose so don’t bother to keep getting changes unless I wanted to spend a lot of money or really needed it for work. The problem was that I did get eye strain sometimes. He did say that the pressures need to be checked every three months until they stabilised at a low dose. The flashes though ought to be investigated because they can be due to unrelated eye problems that need seeing to pretty promptly, possibly GCA or some other cause. At the same time they can see if the flashes are related to the focus thing.

[SheffieldJane]

Yes to the pain gone, hurrah! Gastric troubles very much so. Experimented with Omeprazole and other drugs the doctor gives to coat the stomach, they didn’t suit me. But help others. I tried yoghurt which was quite good but I still had digestive symptoms depending on what I ate. Eventually I moved to gastric coated Pred that worked and still works for me. I did get palpitations, they are maybe about just getting used to the Pred ( mine wore off) but you need to report them to your doctor just in case. Similarly any eye symptoms must be reported to the doctor as they may point to the onset of GCA. I have seen my well equipped Optician on a regular basis - every 3 or 4 months and a number of conditions have been identified. My eye sensitivity ( easily tired and strained) has continued but not disturbed vision. I developed raised blood pressure that I take medication for. Most side effects can be remedied with trial and error. Vision problems are urgent.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

You are already taking something for gastric problems? You may well need a higher dose. If that doesn;t work then ask your doctor to give you enteric coated prednisolone - it is only available in the UK but it does make a big difference, especially if you have existing stomach problems.

[Ebiker]

I had digestion problems before taking pred, more so as time went on. One of the symptoms was as you describe - zig zag light off to the left. It would go after 20 mins or so. At the same time I would sometimes waken up feeling sick or light headed and would have to simply sit still until it went. Sometimes it took a few hours. I eventually worked out that it was silent reflux which seemed to affect my sinuses and balance. Thus in my early days on pred I used the usual gaviscon and adjusted my diet to cut out fat and foods with additives. Next steps coated tablets and yogurt as others have mentioned and finally omeprazole. Omeprazole sorted my problem better than other remedies but I am not too keen on using indefinitely so trying to reduce.

Recently I have found great improvement by taking tablets early morning with kefir....read others experiences here.

Hope this helps.

[sandydame]

I am familiar with the jagged lines flashing and sometimes with colored lights that last usually no more than a few moments. The first time I experienced this was quite frightening and I went to my ophthalmologist and I have an excellent ophthalmologist and he said what you were having is called Silent migraine. He also told me that he has them himself off and on over the years and that it was nothing for me to worry about unless I had some other kinds of symptoms but otherwise not to worry. I Googled silent migraine and sure enough there on a video they showed me exactly what it looks like . I thought you might like to check this out for yourself but also with your doctor. I had to aiment migraine before I ever took prednisone I am now on a low dose of 6 mg a day that maintains my PMR. Still check with your doctor about what you are experiencing with your eyes for the other things you mentioned I sincerely hope all will go well with you.

[Stech]

Hi good morning, yes I was wondering the same about my eyes. I'm on my second round of tablets! And this is new. I'm going to my GP in a week so I will defiantly bring this up along with the covit vaccine as I have a lot of allergies. I wish you and yours a very peaceful new year .

Suzann