Prednisone

[snapdragen]

Tell me all you know about prednisone. My doctor has put me on it for two weeks to see if it will help my neck/arm/hand problems.

My MRI shows a definite narrowing of the spinal canal (can't remember if that's the right word...) Anyway, I had a choice of prednisone, or an epidural. Wasn't in the mood for a shot in the neck, so I chose drugs.

For some reason this has me mildly depressed.

[mimitabby]

here's what i know: be very careful to follow the dr's directions for taking the meds. If you don't you can have nasty side effects. (ie quitting them all at once, taking the wrong dose)

[uk elephant]

I've been on prednisone a few times for months at a time. Don't remember any major side effect, but a bit more emotional than usual. But definitely pay close attention to how you feel and follow the directions carefully. Steroids can be scary stuff. But if it helps, and you only have to take them for two weeks, I'm sure it's worth it! Good luck!

[Wahine]

Prednisone typically has side effects not the least of which is mood changes.

The nastier side effects you hear about (weakened collagen tissue, loss of bone mass...) come with long term use. Using the meds for only 2 weeks should not cause any big issues, but you definitely do not want to be on them long term.

This is a very effective drug for suppressing the infammatory response. It should start to make you feel better very quickly.

And do follow the MDs advise precisely when it comes to tapering off them.

[Aggie_Ama]

DH was on a pretty high dose (60 mg/daily) for 6 weeks last year for his Crohn's. It made my normally mild mannered husband irritable and short tempered. He also had crazy mood swings including feeling depressed/hopeless. Some of his mood I attribute to his life changing diagnosis of Crohn's, it is pretty hard to hear you have a chronic disease. He also gained 30 lbs but again he was on them for 6 weeks. Just follow the doctors dosage and make sure he tapers you back off. I am pretty sure you cannot quit cold turkey.

[Possegal]

no, you can't quit cold turkey. the reason being, the cortisone that is normally secreted by your adrenal gland will stop being secreted because your body senses that you have enough, this feedback inhibition is one of the body's more amazing methods, i think. as you taper off an exogenous corticosteroid, your body detects less so gears up to secrete more. if you stopped all at once, your adrendal gland would take a little time to get the signal to start secreting it again so you would have a short period of time where you wouldn't have enough of it in your system. that's pharmacology 101, just for the information.

and the word you may be looking for is spinal stenosis?

for me, even doing a 1-2 week round of predisone, i can eat like a horse! i have to make a real concerted effort to eat like normal. i've never had mood or sleep disorders from 1-2 week doses (and with my asthma i've actually done those rounds way more times than i care to recall). though it is certainly possible.

[bmccasland]

So I was only on it for 5 days after my allergic reaction to food. Made me jittery, as if seriously buzzed on coffee. Maybe the coffee I was drinking didn't help...
But I did walk down to the pharmacy and ask the pharmacist. Wasn't sure if I was going nuts or what. Apparently one of the side effects can make one jittery, and I had it. Got better when I stopped.

[snapdragen]

Moodiness? Greaaaaaaaaaaaat. Like I'm not b!tchy enough already. I'm on 20mg/4 times a day for three days, then 3 times a day for 3 days, then 2 times etc. until I get down to 1 a day for 3 days.

snap 'moody, puffy, hungry' dragen

[mimitabby]

Snap, it didn't make me moody. I didn't have any side effects, but i cut back too fast and my allergic symptoms came back with a vengeance...


and then i did what i was told...

[salsabike]

If the time comes, Snap--I had several epidurals in my spine during the extremely painful fibromyalgia days, and they were a) not a big deal and b) WERE a big help.

[makbike]

Sheesh, you are going to think I've lost my mind when I toss this out but have you tried giving Murphy Tagament for his allergies? It may help reduce his allergic reactions as odd as it may seem. Both my dogs, Gaston and Zorro suffer from allergies. I keep them on Benadryl and Tagament year round and they have very few problems. Just a suggestion.

[onimity]

I take prednisone occasionally if my asthma gets really bad and I don't notice side-effects if it is just a several day round. I was on it for a month once and it was awful, I got really bloated and hungry. You shouldn't have too many problems with a 2-week course I don't think. My Dr. prescribed a pack of pills that had them separated by day, very useful because I used to have a hard time remembering how many I'd had the day before when the dose was tapering down.

Anne

[Duck on Wheels]

Moodiness? Greaaaaaaaaaaaat. Like I'm not b!tchy enough already. I'm on 20mg/4 times a day for three days, then 3 times a day for 3 days, then 2 times etc. until I get down to 1 a day for 3 days.

snap 'moody, puffy, hungry' dragen

That's a moderate dosage and a short period of time. No need to panic. Like UKE, I've been on that dosage for months on end, then more months stepping down the dosage bit by bit. After some weeks, you can get the "moon face" symptom, where your face goes all puffy. But at 20mg per day, mostly what you may feel is energized. Last time I got put on prednisone (briefly, to knock a Crohns flareup into remission until a new drug I'd been put on reached therapeutic levels) my doc told me I should make the most of the energy and get some extra exercize in ... work out, ride further and faster. I wasn't having muscular/skeletal problems though. Your doc may not want you doing that. And of course, the down side was that, coming off the prednisone, I felt super tired for a couple weeks. Then that too passed and things normalized.

[snapdragen]

I'm taking 80 mg per day, mostly I'm exhausted and would like to sleep. I spent the first 20 minutes of work today looking fo my notes (and my favorite pen) from a meeting I had yesterday. I checked the 2nd floor, where the meeting was, I checked my desk at least three times, I checked the computer room. They finally showed up....in the bathroom.

I'm glad I'm only on this stuff for a short while, I couldn't stand the fuzzy brain too long.

[SadieKate]

Hang in there. This too shall pass. Just stay focused on healing . . . and use this as your excuse for being snarkier than usual. Excuse me, that was Snappier than usual.