Posted by Kate Garnaat on December 27, 1998 at 01:29:51:
In Reply to: First Time on Prednisone posted by Sean on December 02, 1998 at 18:33:50:
Dear Sean,
Regarding your inquiry about prednisone and its side effects:
I tried this treatment a year ago last June for the first time after learning of it at Mayo Clinic the previous spring.
I was prescribed 60mg/day for the 1st week, then 40mg/day the second week - down to 20mg the 3rd week dwindling off from there.
Aside from the increased appetitite (which was great for me)it wasn't until the 3rd week that I encountered the negative side effect of pain in my joints. It was as if I has really bad arthritis. I called Mayo and was told that this was a side effect that I had to deal with or stop the medicine and deal with the headaches. I opted for the painful joints.
I got through that cluster and after 6 months, I found myself, once again, entering into another.
This time, I have to admit, I played around with the medicine a bit. I felt that it was too much for me. Being on the small side, I thought perhaps this was not taken into consideration as the same amount is prescribed to everyone. Anyway, I started with 40mg and dwindled from there. I had the same success as far as preventing the headaches (along with 240mg of Verapamil each night, as before) but I had very little discomfort in my joints, so that seemed to work for me.
I do believe that this medication raises my blood pressure, however I've never had it tested. It just feels like my blood pressure is higher, where normally, it is lower than normal.
I hope this if helpful to you, I just found this website and I am SO excited about it. Just knowing that all of these people know exactly what I go through is worth so much. I had reached the point that I don't even discuss my cluster headaches with anyone because I know that they don't have a clue as to what I am dealing with. I just dealt with it myself because no one has ever heard of them and they instantly connect it with regular migraines to which I see no connection at all.
Best of health to you, and don't overlook Imitrex shots if you do encounter a headache, at least you can abort it in approximately 10 minutes and I don't need to tell you how valuable that is!
Kate Garnaat