Loss of appetite?

[jackswife]

Hi. After 7 years of low dose prednisone, I am finally off it! Hooray! BUT....I seem to have lost my appetite. I finished prednisone about 3 weeks now and now I really have no appetite. I feel hunger and I can eat, but hardly anything appeals to me so I am relying on easy, comfort food. Carbs, eggs, etc. Could this be related to the prednisone? I am on other meds but nothing indicates loss of appetite as a side effect. Any ideas? Thank you all.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I would suspect that your adrenal function hasn't quite kept up with the change in pred dose and you are suffering from adrenal insufficiency

niddk.nih.gov/health-inform....

says "Symptoms & Causes [of adrenal insufficiency]

The most common symptoms are fatigue, muscle weakness, loss of appetite, weight loss, and abdominal pain. Adrenal insufficiency can be caused by autoimmune disease or suddenly stopping steroid medicines used to treat other conditions, among other causes."

It is said it can take up to a year to recover fully after stopping pred altogether. DId you do the last 1mg quickly?

[jackswife in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you, PMRpro. No, quite the contrary. At least I think so. After about 2 years on low dose (3mg and then less) I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis after a big flare of pain following Covid. So, I went on an RA drug and upped my prednisone to 5 mg, which I then tapered slowly once the RA drug had time to kick in, which takes up to 12 weeks. I took about two months to taper the last 3 mg down to 0. But maybe even that is too fast.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to jackswife]

Two months for that 3mg is fast by our standards. Some take as long for that last bit as the rest! 3mg is loads to keep you functioning and it can take 6 to 8 months for that bit to be replaced. And as I say, another year after zero before it is reliable.

[jackswife in reply to PMRpro]

So, I have a wait then. I forgot to mention that I was at 1.5 for many months (maybe a year) before I was diagnosed with the RA but I did go up, as I said, so I did likely go too fast. Thanks, again, for your help.

[Bcol in reply to jackswife]

3mg to 0mg would take me an absolute minimum of thirty weeks on 0.5mg and a five week taper, but probably even longer for the last 1.0mg which is my journey at the moment.

[jackswife in reply to Bcol]

Wow. Thanks. Clearly I went too quickly. I guess I just have to ride it out now. Thanks for your reply.