Anxiety

[Cashewnutty1962]

Hi is it just me who is finding high levels of anxiety since I commenced Prednisolone? My heart races and I get palpitations. I lie awake at night worrying about daft things like what shall I cook tomorrow?? I have all day to cook, in fact I have too many cooked ahead meals. I feel driven to get up and cook😟for the sake of it. I actually have to tell myself out loud to calm down.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Unfortunately the Pred can cause anxiety…this link gives comments from others how they manage theirs -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

And this from NHS -

nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/m...

[Omakaat]

Hi Cashewnutty, well how it exactly works, that will hopefully be explained by the more knowledgeable people here, but boy does your complaints/observations, sound familiar. The palpitations got me even a rushed consult with a cardiologist, nothing wrong, just the way some bodies react to prednisone. And the increased appetite got me delving into recipes in the middle of the night. Sleeping soundly is also a recollection of pre prednisone times. Lovely soothing cooking videos on YouTube, podcasts on cooking and ingredients, the BBC is excellent in this, etc. Still got a freezer full of the most odd meals and cakes, cookiedough etc. . Well it greatly enhanced my reputation as a cook, and a welcome dinnerguest, especially with the grandchildren because ofcourse I will bring along a dessert! There a lot of other things going on in the world to be anxious about, especially at 3 am when your front cortex is asleep and all the less rational thoughts grab their chance to come to your attention. Food planning is the more preferable thought to muse about. Wishing you lots of lovely meals, and a successful tapering!

[Cashewnutty1962 in reply to Omakaat]

☺️

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Yes, amongst a lot of other potential adverse effects, pred can cause anxiety.

If you have all those cooked ahead meals - take the time and go out for a walk in nature to try to calm down. If it is too bad, speak to your GP. Maybe look for onine advice or an app or music.

webmd.com/mental-health/fea...

Acknowledge the anxiety - and be assured it isn't you, it is the pred and as the dose goes down, the anxiety should abate,

[Cashewnutty1962 in reply to PMRpro]

I hope so.

[Angelsmummy]

Morning C,join the anxiety club,all new members welcome!All joking aside,yep,the Pred does it to a lot of us.Was feeling pretty good on lower doses but now on 14 mg and the anxiety,sleeplessness,worrying,all back with a bang I’m afraid.As for the nocturnal cooking,when I was on 60 mg when first diagnosed then right up until I was on about 20 mg,I had no sleep for 2 days straight off,then crashed on the third day.Bought 2 extra freezers to accommodate all the meals that I was cooking and that is the truth!I get the palpitations now and again on exertion,but guess that we have to put up with what our little magic pills do to us in the way of side effects ..I have been taking my little dog out every other day ( every day knackers me) to have a change of scenery,and have put my music on a bit louder to try and not focus on the “ things in my head” It will pass C ,you are certainly not alone in this issue.xxx😜💐💐

every other day

[TandemTime]

I think as already mentioned above you can put these anxious feelings down to the Prednisolone which is a comfort. I have felt very stressed in my life but I did not know what it was like to feel anxious...until now!!So weird.

You know what you are thinking is irrational but you choose to take your thoughts down that path, whereas before you would have shut the door to them.

The lack of sleep I have had to overcome with a few days of drouzy antihistamine as I could not function. We all need sleep. You need to plan to take it late evening and no alcohol that day. The chemist said you should not take it all the time but it's nice to have it in the cupboard if you have had a run of bad night's.

Meanwhile enjoy the food experiments 😀

[oscarandchloe]

When first diagnosed with G C A I was on 45mg Pred, all symptoms disappeared overnight and never came back. But I was so anxious I went to my GO who send me on a programme in with a load of very anxious university students. I learnt a lot, enjoyed the company of the young folk but remained anxious until the Pred reduced.

[811Yoga]

Hello there. Yes me too! I have never had anxiety as I have had on Pred. The Rheumatologist put my Pred back up to 10 from 3 mg daily plus a new diagnosis of LVV. I am down to 7mg but am eyeing up Metazapine to help with sleep and anxiety. The GP thought this might help but it does make me feel so drowsy the next day ( I did try this for three days but found it difficult to function). The word is that this drowsiness wears off but I don't want to load my body with another drug so have been the counselling route and joined the Hope Programme for those with long term health conditions. This is an NHS recognised course and free of charge.

I certainly identify with worrying about the menu for the week in the early hours. However I am better than I was but good sleep still escapes me.

[Cashewnutty1962 in reply to 811Yoga]

🙃

[Noni71]

My GP put me on Propranolol to combat palpitations and anxiety. It worked!

[Cashewnutty1962 in reply to Noni71]

hi.. no more drugs for me. My Rheumatologist appointment has come through, will see him next week.

[Gimme]

I'm OK at around 5 or 6 mg most of the time. I think I gradually got used to it. But at 15 mg, I felt like I was going out of my mind. My agitation was so high that I felt suicidal, which resulted in the doc lowering my dose very quickly and him keeping a very close eye on me for a few weeks. I think that experience was pretty extreme and not that usual. All I can say is that you will probably feel a lot better as you start to taper the dose. In the meantime, no point lying in bed, probably better to get up and have a hot drink, which is what I did at my worst, with a little light tidying up round the house to try and use up some of the adrenaline. I bet my neighbours love me cluttering around in the kitchen at 4.00 am.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Gimme]

You'd be fine here - my neighbours start to get up to go to work at 3.30am!!

[Gimme in reply to PMRpro]

I live in a terraced house and on one side, she is a TV producer. She is often coming home at that time and wanting to get to sleep. Even worse, they have two enormous mutts and if I make a noise, it makes them bark. 😳

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Gimme]

That is self-inflicted then!!

[Gimme in reply to PMRpro]

🤣

[Body_bonkers]

I was literally bouncing off the ceiling after starting steroids too. At first I thought it was just the pain relief but it persisted until I got down to about 20mg. My creativity soared and so have notebooks full of ideas which I’ll probably never get round too but at least it got them out of my head at the time

[Bedwell]

I’m struggling getting below 1 mg… anxiety?! Yes!!! But on such a low dose… ?!?!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bedwell]

Adrenal insufficiency can also lead to anxiety - too high, too low, corticosteroids can cause anxiety!

[Bedwell in reply to PMRpro]

Don’t know where to post this!!!! But does anyone know if Kefir is ok to take with pred? I drink half a glass of organic goat kefir everyday.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bedwell]

Lots of people do. If you do OK - why not.

[Bedwell in reply to PMRpro]

Just wondered if it was inflammatory?! Controversial opinion about oats for example. Some say inflammatory.. some say not!!!!!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Bedwell]

There is a lot of guff talked about inflammatory or not inflamamtory. A food can be said to be inflammatory by one "authority" and non-inflammatory by another! The best test is using a sample of N=1 on yourself!

As for oats - the devil is in the detail. In this article

eatthis.com/worst-breakfast...

it is easy to see why they may get a bad rap - they are talking about instant highly processed products and "if you are opting for a flavored variety that contains added sugars, you may be contributing to your inflammation." Proper porridge made without loads of sugar isn't a problem, it is the added sugar and flavourings.

You have to remember that a lot of this stuff comes from the USA - look at the breakfast items listed in that article. All highly processed junk that wouldn't appear on the average European breakfast table.

[Bedwell in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for your common sense!!!