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        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2005 >> prednisone
        
(Message started by: Gmkoa on Jun 26^th, 2005, 6:45pm)

Title: prednisone
Post by Gmkoa on Jun 26^th, 2005, 6:45pm

what are the side affects of prednisoe i am tacking it again it did noy seem so bad last time (a week ago)
thanks

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by bnfreeman on Jun 26^th, 2005, 7:09pm

They say it can make you hungry alot of the time. I never had any problems though.

BF

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by don on Jun 26^th, 2005, 7:11pm

Christ if your going to take a med learn to use a search engine!

Type "prednisone" into Yahoo.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by StressFree on Jun 26^th, 2005, 7:51pm

20mg Prednisone three times a day left me with only level 5 to 6 pain incidents. I'd even call these shadows. Burning/tingling sensation in temple and around eye and jaw, instead of full blown cluster attacks. Though I did have a bad one break through a couple of times a few days apart. Sometimes this breakthrough attack would last for a couple of hours. Ergotamine didn't even touch the break through attack. After a week though, mostly shadows. Now on a taper from the prednisone, and continuing 180mg SR verapamil. Praying that things will continue as well and then subside completely. Overall side effects at these doses were minimal. Only on the prednisone a few weeks total. Short term use important with that one. Best of luck and pain free days for you, Rich

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by cheNY on Jun 26^th, 2005, 8:36pm

Everyone is different, but steroids cause water retention, hunger, bloating, your face will literally look round. Basically I feel shitty, depressed & lack of motivation. Though some can be from the CH. Long term use is bad, but it does work & if nothing else works..... I'll take it!
The big thing with high dose prednisone or any steroid is that it suppresses your immune system.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by E-Double on Jun 26^th, 2005, 9:16pm

I went through puberty without a zit....when on Prednisone I break out, get moonface and I ate my Honda Accord [smiley=laugh.gif]

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by burnt-toast on Jun 27^th, 2005, 12:51am

Didn't do one damn thing for my headaches but my family started hiding all the food they could before going to bed each night.

Did take a big dent out of the 20lbs. I had lost during this cycle. ;;D

Tom

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by Lizzie2 on Jun 27^th, 2005, 2:14am

on 06/26/05 at 21:16:44, E-Double wrote:

I went through puberty without a zit....when on Prednisone I break out, get moonface and I ate my Honda Accord [smiley=laugh.gif]

ROTFLMAO Ex2!!! I'm picturing you eating your Honda Accord!!! You crack me up, you new-father-to-be-new-home-owner! :)

Long term effects of prednisone and corticosteroids is actually much more than just immune supression. Corticosteroids are the only class of drug known to have side effects in every system of the body. Tiny bit scary!

Long term use will reduce bone density - even in males. In addition to bone density, it can also be implicated in the development of Avascular Necrosis for quite a few people! (Not the cause, but definitely is relevant.) Prednisone raises blood sugar and increases the risk of diabetes with long term use. Immunosuppresion does take place - even on short tapers. On a short taper, people sometimes get colds or flu-like illnesses and one of the most common infections to get while on prednisone is Candida (also known as thrush). Thrush refers to candida of the mouth and even extending down the throat. Candida is also the name for the eversofun yeast infections - and don't go thinking that you can't get a yeast infection if you're male, either! It's a fungus - and once it starts becoming symptomatic, it usually doesn't stop without treatment.

There are many more effects, but those are just some other big ones besides just simple immunosuppression. Prednisone can be a wonderful med for lots of people, but if you require frequent use with little beneficial effects, then it is definitely important to consider the risks vs. benefits. I know we all want the CH to stop and we'd do just about anything to get there - but from my own standpoint - just having bilateral knee surgery at age 24 and having to deal with avascular necrosis potentially ravaging the rest of my major joints in the future was not worth the 2-7 days of cluster-free time I experienced!

Great drug - but not without risk...

Lizzie :)

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by Sunil Gururaj on Jun 27^th, 2005, 5:09am

I was on prednisone in my last cycle and my face bloated like a baloon. I also was eating like a "i dont know what".

I also put on a big tummy.
Avoid eating salt in your food when on prednisone. Salt with pred baloons you...

Rgds,
Sunil

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by cheNY on Jun 27^th, 2005, 9:25am

In the past I've used prednisone, in one episode I used it for over a month. It absolutely sucks but seems to work exceptionally well for me. I save it for when all else fails and the pain has become unbearable. This year I've been using solu-medrol every 3-4 days & cutting the dose in half to about 65mg.
The side effects seem insignificant, so far. We'll see where this road leads.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by don on Jun 27^th, 2005, 11:40am

Let me know if you are trying the pred.

Need to add more Papa Ginos stock to my portfolio.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by laurad on Jun 29^th, 2005, 1:07am

When I was on prednisone it worked a treat for about 5 or 6 days and then... I got an absolute doozy which lasted 4 hours. One of the worst ever - everyone in the emergency room was pretty freaked out by me! I figured it wasn't worth it. Never made me hungry, but I was only on it for a week or so.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by Bob_Johnson on Jun 29^th, 2005, 7:34am

Just be aware: When you ask this kind of question--regardless of specific topic--you will tend to get responses from folks with unhappy experiences to report. This is not to say that their experience didn't occur but only that you are getting a lopsided response: People with positive experiences tend not to respond.
----
I posted this message on a chat group for dog owners (Vizsla). The issues are the same whether we are talking about animals or humans--so a little translating of words will make it understandable. The core idea: side effects are not an absolute--yes/no--issue. We must always balance potential risk with potential benefit. I'm concerned with the tendency to present comments about medicine side effects in terms which frighten folks away from trying meds which might be of benefit.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This question about side effects from food (allergies) or medications pops up regularly. The problem is, we don't ask the correct questions. The issues are:

1. What is the rate or chance or probability that any particular side effect will develop?

Without information it's easy to assume that the list of side effects is a statement of what will happen if the med is used. In fact, side effects are reported in human medicine/vet literature as a rate of occurrence ranging from less than one percent and ranging upward.

It's important to ask the Vet for two pieces of information: what are the side effects?; what is the rate or chance that a particular effect will occur? Without information it's impossible to make a good judgment about using or not.

2. How serious are the side effects compared to the condition for which the med is being used?

We have a member whose Vizsla would have died from a systemic fungal infection without a med. The problem is that this med has serious and frequent side effects--but there were no treatment options.

3. How important is my judgment about the risk of side effects vs. the benefit of using this med?

Bottom line: A list of side effects is a statement of POSSIBILITIES. It is not a PREDICTION of what will occur. Wisdom calls for knowing both the risk and asking the vet what to look for, i.e., symptoms of side effects.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by don on Jun 29^th, 2005, 7:39am

The key to predisone breaking the cycle is preventatives. If you are on an effective theraputic dose of a preventative then the chances of the CH returning at the end of the Pred. taper are greatly diminished.

Veteran of countless pred. tapers and on a first name basis at the Burger King drive thru.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by Bob P on Jun 29^th, 2005, 9:55am

I love pred. It's a real sanity saver when in the middle of a long cluster cycle.

I've mostly used the Medrol DosPaks. It's a six day taper. It stops my attacks dead in thier tracks but they come back on about the 4th day of the taper. The 3 or 4 nights of sleep works wonders though.

This cycle I also tried a regular pred routine. Think I started at 60mg a day for a couple of weeks. It took 4 days to slow the attacks and even then didn't stop them completely. I felt pretty crummy the entire time.

Think I'll stick with the DosPaks

Modified to add: Oops, didn't answer your question. I've never really experienced any bad side effects from pred.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by cheNY on Jun 29^th, 2005, 9:59am

I found initially start high, about 80mg, and taper from there after a few days. If I taper too quickly, the CH quickly return as well. A few years ago I stayed on the prednisone for almost a month, they were that bad.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by Cynde on Jun 29^th, 2005, 11:08am

I'm on my next-to-the-last dose after 16 days -- tapered from 80 down to 20 mg/day, 4 days at a time. My side effects were bloated face, terrible acne (which I never even had as a teen!), constant hunger (drink water to make go away or you'll eat yourself sick), and general droopy feeling. But now, on day 15, acne is almost gone, face feels better, and fog is lifting. But headaches aren't gone...had a whopper last night, but was able to get it under control quickly with Maxalt sublinguals (I know lots of people have no success, but it worked last night, the first time I ever tried it). Stay on the prednisone, whatever you do -- risks associated with stopping are worse than effects of short-term treatment.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by cheNY on Jun 29^th, 2005, 1:22pm

I feel the same. Short term they are not that bad. I specially watch what I eat when on the steroids and exercise as often as possible to keep up the mood & general well being. I also take echinacia to boost the immune system.

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by Lizzie2 on Jun 29^th, 2005, 4:01pm

Well I think the biggest difference between side effects of most meds and side effects of corticosteroids has to do with the close relation of the corticosteroids to our own steroid hormones. It isn't so much a side effect that may or may not occur. While the time it takes to experience a 'side effect' from a steroid will vary from person to person, there are physiologic changes that occur in the body....the consequenting 'side effects' are more an evident response to the changes in body chemistry than they are a direct side effect to the drug.

You could say that is true about any med - as they all affect body chemistry, however - drugs like prednisone, synthroid, and others that mimic the body's natural chemistry have some definitive effects on certain parts of the body in every person - the question is, do these effects trouble you or not?

Could go on and on and on...but it would take forever to go through the steroids and lay out the pharmacokinetics - and probably would not answer any questions!

My aim is not to dissuade someone from taking steroids - just more of a caution - especially with regards to frequent or long term use.

Lizzie :)

Title: Re: prednisone
Post by StressFree on Jun 30^th, 2005, 11:54am

Something I forgot to mention regarding side effects. At 20mg 3X per day, I had a high blood pressure effect. This may be some of the 'bad' or 'yucky' feeling some mention. I noticed pounding heart beat, especially when laying down at night (you can hear/feel it). The salt of course can aggrivate this. Once on the Verapamil (a high blood pressure med) everything was fine. Odd coincidense that blood pressure med is a primary treatment on it's own. Another point about the immune and adrenal suppression effects - definately follow the 'taper' instructions. If you stop abruptly your system may not restart making it's own cortisone and related chemicals. This can be a real problem. Good luck with the Prednisone, it helps me quite a bit. Try not to be discouraged with "break through" attacks. Someone mentioned Maxalt to abort attacks - that has been very good for me as well. Best wishes for you and prayers for all, Rich