Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        New Message Board Archives >> 2004-2005 Getting to Know Ya Posts >> Prednisone
        
(Message started by: ruff on Feb 27^th, 2005, 2:28pm)

Title: Prednisone
Post by ruff on Feb 27^th, 2005, 2:28pm

Hi to all, I am new to the site, this is my 2nd bout of CHs
It took 2 weeks to finally find a Dr. who would finally do something for me. I think it was because I was having a perfect "10" right in her office, she prescribed 2mg ATIVAN once a day and 50mg DEMEROL 4 TO 6 TIMES A DAY.
Wow was I drugged-up, but it worked for about 5 days
untill the CH kinda found it's way around all the drugs.
So I went and found another Dr. This Dr. knew about CH and prescribed PREDNISONE 50mg once a day, within 12 Hrs no more monster in my head, I stopped all other drugs. I feel great.
I am to be on the PREDNISONE for 1 week then taper off for another week . Dr. says 80% of the time this will end the bout of CH.

I have read some of the posts in here and nobody has mentioned PREDNISONE.
Has anybody here tried it?
As for me it`s been 24 Hrs now and I still feel great,
I`ll be back and give up-dates.
Would love the hear comments if anyone has.

Life ain't so ruff any more :)

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by purpleydog on Feb 27^th, 2005, 3:07pm

Do a search on prednisone. It's a common subject here. Works for a lot of people, and has some bad side effects. Glad you found us. :) Sorry you have to be here. Welcome.

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by Kim Y. on Feb 27^th, 2005, 7:02pm

Had prednisone taper x 1wk and didn't faze my CH. I am glad you are having a positive outcome. Hope you remain PF welcome and glad you found us. :)

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by ruff on Feb 27^th, 2005, 7:15pm

What bad side affects,can you tel me more?

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by E-Double on Feb 27^th, 2005, 7:17pm

Prednisone (or other corticosteroids) is used by many of us for short periods to either attempt to break a cycle or MOSTLY as a transitional drug to give some relief while our preventative meds are building to a therapeutic level.

I hope that is all you need but make sure!!!!
Unfortunately for many as the taper end the beast comes a knocking at a higher rate again.

Any abortive meds?? Triptans, Oxygen?????

Bring this to your doctor!

A great resource to educate yourself and the guy with the medical training

http://www.brightok.net/~mnjday/chtherapy.pdf

PF wishes

E

edit: side effects: other than moon face and wanting to eat your first born child or anything that comes within an arms length.....
irritablilty, speed, weight gain....

If you are on for short term should not worry yet long term use can cause avascular necrosis(bone death)

Smiles ;)

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Feb 27^th, 2005, 8:29pm

Ditto to E-Double (good job Eric - *smile*).

Prednisone is often successful as a transitional drug. On occasion, it can knock out a cycle completely , though that's rare. Usually it's used to keep HA's at bay until preventatives like Verapamil have a chance to kick in. And, chances are, you'll still need an abortive like O2 or Trex injects for the occasional severe break-through.

Follow the link E-Double gave you. It speaks directly to medications and how they are best combined to help combat the beast.

Best of luck - keep posting,

Kris

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by broomhilda on Feb 27^th, 2005, 9:55pm

Ditto to what Eric and Kris said! Glad you are getting some relief...Pred did nothing for my ch, but it sure made me able to enjoy foods I never been able to eat in a long time and man could I eat!!!

PF wishes on over to you...

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by TxBasslady on Mar 1^st, 2005, 3:00am

Welcome to the board.

I have had great success with the Prednisone.

I have taken it twice to stop the CH. The first time I was on a taper, the CH stopped the same day I started the meds. I went 197 days....total PF. The CH returned on the 198th day. The second taper I took was Jan. 11th (this year). This time, I only got 42 PF days. However, to me....any PF time is a good thing!

Good luck....hope you have as many PF days as I did.
It was great!

PF vibes,

Jean

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by don on Mar 1^st, 2005, 7:12am

Quote:

Dr. says 80% of the time this will end the bout of CH.

As an advocate of prednisone I would have to say that it is effective 80% of the time ONLY in conjunction with a preventative. Otherwise I would (and will) suggest that when you get to the lower doses the CH will return.

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by SLanegan on Mar 1^st, 2005, 5:43pm

I have been on prednisone now for the past 3 weeks tapering off. For the past 9 days that I have been taking it, along with Depakote (500mg every night before bed and 9mg of Melatonin) I am PF all day and night. I have noticed a few minor shadows but pretty much the beast has subsided.

I read what others said about the beast coming back as soon as the prednisone is gone. I have three more days of taking it, down to just 10mg every morning. I am weary about going off the prednisone as well as curious to know if after I am done with it if the beast is gone.

As for side effects, nothing really that I can notice.

Good luck to you and hope you all have PFDANs!!!!!
MasterSergeantSean

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by Kris_in_SJ on Mar 1^st, 2005, 8:07pm

Sean - are you taking Verapamil or another preventative?

Kris

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by ruff on Mar 6^th, 2005, 9:45am

I thank everyone that has replied to my question about prednisone. It seems to me that in most cases it works but only for a short time, these CH are tricky buggers, finding it's way around anything.
As for me it worked for the first 3 days no CH, then they started again although only 2 or 3 a night and not as severe. I could stay off all other pain killers and get back to work.
I am starting to taper off now for the next 5 days.
I hope I'm nearing the end of the cycle, but I don't think so, they started only about 4 weeks ago.
I don't know what to do if they come back full after the pred is all gone.

Thanks again to all,wishing your cycles end soon.

Ruffing it out.

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by don on Mar 7^th, 2005, 9:36pm

Quote:

I don't know what to do if they come back full after the pred is all gone.

How many times can you say "Preventative"?

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by Sean_C on Mar 7^th, 2005, 11:03pm

on 03/06/05 at 09:45:51, ruff wrote:

I don't know what to do if they come back full after the pred is all gone.

I usually start verbally with my favorite four letter word "fuck".................it always seems most fitting

Sean..................... ;;D

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by Gator on Mar 9^th, 2005, 2:03am

on 03/06/05 at 09:45:51, ruff wrote:

Welcome to our little corner of the web.

Don't ruff it out. It's insane to suffer needlessly. Print out the link E-double gave you and take it back to your doc. If your cycles run more than 3 or 4 weeks, demand s/he start you on a preventative med (Verapamil is a very common one) and also demand s/he write a script for oxygen and a fast acting abortive like Imitrex injections or Zomig Nasal Spray. If your cycles are shorter than 3 or 4 weeks, a preventative may not do you much good, but still demand the oxygen and imitrex injections or zomig nasal spray.

Stay away from the pain killers and narcotics. While there are cases where they do help manage the pain, they do nothing to prevent a ch attack and do little to stop the pain. They also have a tendency to cause more pain in the form of rebound pain.

In the mean time READ everything in the links to the left. Also read through the various boards here. Tons of info and new info almost daily. Educate yourself - that is the only way to ensure you get quality treatment for your nemesis. You may end up teaching whatever doc you finally settle with as few doctors - even few "specialists" know much about cluster headaches.

Here are a few more links to help you in your treatment.

Here is a link to some non-prescription alternatives different people have used to help with the pain:

http://www.clusterheadaches.org/resources/non_script_treat.htm

If you are currently taking medications, I would suggest you talk with your doctor before taking any of the nutritional supplements. At the very least check for interactions at a website such as:

http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Home/AllAboutDrugs

Nutritional supplements can interact with prescription meds just the same as some prescription meds interact with each other. Better safe than sorry where your health is concerned.

Oxygen is an excellent abortive. Works for most people when used properly. Defintely try this. As well as it works, I have a hard time understanding why more doctors do not prescribe it. If your doc won't prescribe it for you, you might try welder's O2. It's the same pure oxygen used by medical suppliers. Many people here use it and would be more than happy to help you set it up. Here are some links (in addition to the link at the left) that tells about using O2:

http://www.headaches.org/consumer/topicsheets/oxygen.html

http://www.chhelp.org/mhni.html

Here is a link to a letter that may help explain things to your friends, family and co-workers.

http://www.clusterheadaches.org/Cluster%20Headache%20Syndrome.doc

Again, welcome to CH.com. There's no better place in the world for info and support.

Gator

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by ruff on Mar 10^th, 2005, 11:30pm

Thanks Gateor, and E-

I`ve got all the info printed and I am loaded with info.
Going to see the Dr. on Monday .

still 2 more days with the Pred Taper . and well you guys know , the pred did not work much. out of the 14 days I was 5 days CH free!

Having 2 good CH a nite,

Thanks again, this sight and the people here , what can I say , beter than a Dr.

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by TonyG1 on Mar 13^th, 2005, 8:30pm

My neuro prescribed a Medrol - Dose Pak :P(Methylprednisolone) Friday, I started on the initial doses on Friday afternoon and by Friday evening noticed some "odd" things:

Shortly after the first two tabs, I noted feeling hot.
Took the second two tabs about 3-4 hours later and the feeling did not subside. By late friday evening my BP was running much, much higher than normal and the heat had turned to inferno. Took the last two tabs for Friday before going to bed. When I woke on Saturday a.m. -- I looked and felt as if I had a mild sunburn :-[ -- called the pharmacist who recommended that I try to stay the course, so... I took the a.m. pills. When I got home Saturday evening, I looked and felt as if I had a bad sunburn. >>> Me on Saturday [smiley=stfu.gif] <<<< -- Needless to say, I called the pharmacist who recommended that I stop the meds and contact my doc on Monday. I did not take any more of the medication and my coloration and blood pressure are much, much better today -- I've been taking benadryl today (25 mg twice) -- I think I may have been having an allergic reaction to the steroid -- the only conclusion i can draw since things are much improved since stopping the meds.

Has anyone out there responded similiarly to corticosteroid treatment? Thanks!!

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by Gator on Mar 14^th, 2005, 9:05am

I never personally had such a reaction to pred, but then I rarely see any effect/side effect from any medication. Sounds like getting off it was the right thing to do, though.

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by E-Double on Mar 14^th, 2005, 9:20am

on 03/14/05 at 09:05:01, Gator wrote:

I never personally had such a reaction to pred, but then I rarely see any effect/side effect from any medication. Sounds like getting off it was the right thing to do, though.

I on the other hand have always been the 1 in 5,000,000 person to get a rare side-effect.......

The last 2 times I did a medrol-pac, I started to get numbing from my jaw all the way down to my fingers on my CH side......

The first time it coincided with an increase in verap. so the doctor thought it was not the steroid but "BP" med....

The second time the only variable was the steroid!!

Once I tapered off the numbing decreased.....

Not all side-effects are listed by manufacturer......
They have to be looked up in a medical guide and interactions need to be researched b/c there is always the 1 in 5,000,000 chance of (take your pick)

This has happened to me on other non-CH meds....

So who knows......

Good luck dude!

Eric

Title: Re: Prednisone
Post by TonyG1 on Mar 14^th, 2005, 7:49pm

Thanks Gator & Eric ! Spoke with the Neuro today (once he FINALLY called me back at 3pm >:( ) and told him the symtoms I experienced -- bp right after waking up on Saturday a.m. (glad I did, wake up that is) was 153 / 117, 123 pulse -- his response -- "...sorry that happened to you, don't take any more..." Interestingly, I'm a new patient with him (first appt was Friday) they didn't bother taking a BP when I saw them .... he seemed in a hurry (perhaps he is overloaded himself with patients) ... [smiley=confused.gif]

At any rate, I let him know in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that I would not now nor would I ever be taking the steroids again ... He gave me a sermon on Friday on the all healing power of the steroids ... [smiley=laugh.gif] Guess they don't work for me... cure worse than the condition ...

I've got an MRI/MRA scheduled later this week - After that I think I will be seeking a new Neuro simply due to the lack of concern he & his office demonstrated about my issue with the medication. If I had continued on the drug, I think perhaps I would have ended up in the hospital. If that is an indicator of the type of care / help he and his office attempt to provide, I can do better and deserve better. [smiley=finger.gif] Bye, bye old Neuro, hello new Neuro ...

Thanks for your answers and listening to me vent !! Wishing you all many PFDANs !!

Tony