I haven't had to take prednisone for more than around a year at a time, most recently tapering off of it this past Spring, but it has left a mark on my subconscious that makes me shudder whenever it is brought up by the doctor. I would not recommend refusing prednisone if it is recommended by your doctor, I am merely relating my experiences with it to you. The same can be said for any other medication or treatment that I discuss on here. Still, I can spot "prednisone-face" or "moon-face" at thirty paces. This drug is also prescribed for a myriad of other conditions. So for those of you out there currently prescribed this much loved and much despised medication: I feel your pain and can sympathize with the puffiness.
lol...so true. I had to laugh at this because I just got put back on Prednisone yesterday and had the good 'ol Prednisone insomnia last night. Uhhhggggg...oh, how I loathe Prednisone.
ReplyDeleteNot fun! I hope you don't have to be on it too long. Here's to a quick taper!
ReplyDeletei myself am a victim of crohns, and UC, and refuse to take prednisone, unless absolutely necessary, but i tell the doc how long and how much. I watch my aunt who was diagnosed with UC in her middle 40's be given it on a regular basis, and as she got older she could not even take a step with her specially made shoes, without a bone in one of her feet just cracking and breaking!!! it is a necessary drug at times..but an EVIL drug! be so very careful!
ReplyDeleteI agree, it IS evil.
ReplyDeleteI have had prednisone in the past. I have had all the symptoms you decribe, I even had a doctor tell me that shaking is not a recognised side effect of pred. LMAO @ that, everyone I have ever spoken to about it has had the shakes. I also piled weight on with it. It helped with the pain tho it didn't get rid of it entirely but not with the 20x a day bathroom habit.
ReplyDeleteMy neighbour who suffers from lupus was on it for many years, her bones are now so thin that over the last two years she has broken both arms, one shutting a car door, one closing the fridge door and both thigh bones, one stepping off a curb and one walking down some steps. In both cases she needed metal plates and screws in her legs. The doctors said that these injuries are normally only seen in road traffic accidents in people who have been run down by a car. Just goes so show the damage the pred has done to her.
Ther last time the doctors actually gave me pred I didn't take it because I didn't feel what I was suffering at the time warranted it and the last time the doc at the hospital suggested it he actually asked me if I thought I needed it or not.
I think there is a time and a place for prednisone, it can help in sudden severe flare ups or times when the crohns has been rumbling along for so long without a let up that you are completely run down and nothing else has worked, but I do think that the days are passes when pred is the first and often last stop in treatment, and the days of been left on high dose steroids for months and years on end are thankfully over.
The one good thing that came out of my having to take pred is that I was able to instantly spot that my brother was abusing steroids through the little tell tale signs quite early on and was able to nip that in the bud before it became a problem.
Thank you for sharing Sam. You definitely hit the positives and negatives of prednisone. It is really good that doctors now understand the effects of being on this medication long term and hopefully will continue to steer clear of that. Good luck to you.
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