I can’t give any advice on facial hair but what I can give advice on diet. Before I was diagnosed I embarked on a low carb plan. It’s not a diet! You are not starving yourself you are just cutting carbs. Some people refer to it as Keto but I have always seen that as severe. I was on steroids for 18 months, started like you on 60mg and tapered accordingly. You have to be disciplined though. I was on holiday recently and found it very difficult to maintain it and felt awful. I did gain weight but at the end of the 18 months but only a few pounds. Try and exercise too.
Do come over to the PMRGCAuk forum and ask your question there - all of us are or have been on pred at some dose and many at similar doses to you. We almost all have found great benefit from cutting carbs drastically - which helps reduce the cravings and keep weight gain within reasonable limits for most. You will get a lot of advice and tips and empathy - it does work and there are lots of ways to make living with pred easier until you get to lower doses - which you will and the weight will eventually go but keeping it to a minmium now will help a lot.See you there
I see others have commented on weight/diet side of things. I also had facial hair growth which I’d never had before starting on Prednisolone - particularly noticed growth on my chin. As I’ve come down in dosage it seems to have stopped growing now (I started on 60mg and now on 20mg, reducing 5mg every 2 weeks), so hopefully yours will stop too when your dose reduces and any hair removal will solve the problem without future growth.
Weight gain is inevitable but most of it is water retention and goes with the pred territory. Moon face and you may find build up on your back. Will go when you reduce pred but it comes off slowly. I cut out all simple carbs but allow myself limited complex carbs. Basically simple carbs include all white bread, rice, pasta, potato and, sadly, beer and alcohol. Stick to only wholegrain carbs which you get used to..and controlled amounts. Also our bodies turn simple carbs straight to sugar so diabetes is then on the table thanks to our dependence on pred. Long term pred also makes you more liable to plaque build up on arteries so if you are not already on statins you should ask about it and avoid anything high in chloresterol . Pred saves us but we all eventually need to find a steroid sparing solution. Pig out on berries, salads and veg, white chicken and white fish and salmon. It sucks but I managed to lose 20 Kilos albeit my diet was trash before. Good luck and we all feel your pain.
Hi Dawn, I’m so sorry you’re going through all of this. It makes it harder when we’re so poorly and yet also feel we’re looking our worst due to the drugs. Regarding facial hair I’ll be honest and used leg waxing strips and waxed my whole face. It didn’t grow back. It was as though the down that had grown was a one off. I did the wax on a less dosage of steroids that you’re on so maybe wait a bit. I was told I could make it worse by a beautician friend but I couldn’t bear it and luckily it didn’t grow back. Moon face does eventually go once you’re off steroids but it’s hard. If you can try to eat healthy and avoid high sugar. Also try to drink a lot of water and keep moving if you can. Remember all of this is drug induced because you’re fighting a horrible disease, not because of anything you’ve done or neglected. Good friends understand this too. And, a steroid face does look like an ill, poorly, meds face which is what is the reality, not that you’ve let yourself go. Hugs xxx
I had lost of weight prior to diagnosis and put on about 7 kgs in a month after diagnosis with a 90 mg per day pred dose due to appetite enhancement - it destroyed my will power which is usually pretty good. Now I am completely off preds and my weight has normalised again. I would try to drink more and avoid the carbs e.g. plenty of veg and high roughage (bulky) foods.
Hi Dawn. I was on 60mg too. I have discovered that the awful initial urge to keep eating after you’ve just eaten went away after two hours. So IF you can keep busy either mentally or physically during that 2hrs it passes (mostly). Take care - all things pass.
Although hard it is possible to control weight even on very high doses of pred. It is also very worth while as pred increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease etc which is made worse by weight gain. Ask to see your practice nurse or a telephone appt who can advise and refer on to a dietitian if necessary. Weight watchers etc can also be helpful. The British Dietetic Association website also has very useful information on their website. Keeping to a healthy weight will have a very big impact on your health.
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