Fifty Plus (50+) - Experience with prednisone?

I posted a few days ago about being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis. Thanks to everybody who responded--treatment's going well, I'm feeling fine and the prognosis is pretty good. You'd rather not have it, but there are a lot of worse things.
Reason for this post, though, is that I've just started on prednisone, a moderate dose for a couple of weeks, then taper down as far as I can. I know the long-term side effects, and in my case I think it's worth the risk, at least as an experiment. But I'm wondering about the effects on day to day activities, appetite, sleep patterns, whatever. It's a pretty common drug, and I figured there'll be people out there who've taken it. Any comments are welcome--Thanks.

My experience with prednisone was that it made me feel like I had way too much caffiene. I ended up having to take some benedryl to help me sleep.

First and foremost, I am not in the medical professions and can only
speak from the viewpoint of a HS educated layman.

My experience is not as a patient, but as a close family member of
an auto-imune patient. Prednisone did what the Dr. hoped it would each time
it was prescribed. What I want to relate is an experience that occurred
the last time it was administered to this family member back in 1997.
This particular exascerbation had been rather intense and a six week
dose of Prednisone was prescribed followed by a period of slow withdrawl
from the drug. During the withdrawl period, the patient's perspective
of the world and their effect on it got severely warped.

Without going into details their marriage almost ended.

Internet reasearch several years later revealed to them that long,
large doses can cause ones mind to see things differently from reality.
I don't know if the drug has been altered any or if more has been learned
about the effects and I believe this particular side effect is quite rare.

I just warn you that it would be unwise to initiate any relationship changes
with your freind during or shortly after medication. My family member
has absolutely no memory of the reality shift, none at all. Many outragous
statemants were made and a lot of short term plans got canceled and the
patient couldn't recall any of it. Any relationship change as a result of
statements that they had made during treatment would have been a major mistake.

I'm sorry that I can not provide any indication as to how it makes one feel
to take it. Please, don't fear the drug...just remember to be patient and
understanding with the patient.

Good luck and God Bless

First and foremost, I am not in the medical professions and can only
speak from the viewpoint of a HS educated layman.

My experience is not as a patient, but as a close family member of
an auto-imune patient. Prednisone did what the Dr. hoped it would each time
it was prescribed. What I want to relate is an experience that occurred
the last time it was administered to this family member back in 1997.
This particular exascerbation had been rather intense and a six week
dose of Prednisone was prescribed followed by a period of slow withdrawl
from the drug. During the withdrawl period, the patient's perspective
of the world and their effect on it got severely warped.

Without going into details their marriage almost ended.

Internet reasearch several years later revealed to them that long,
large doses can cause ones mind to see things differently from reality.
I don't know if the drug has been altered any or if more has been learned
about the effects and I believe this particular side effect is quite rare.

I just warn you that it would be unwise to initiate any relationship changes
with your freind during or shortly after medication. My family member
has absolutely no memory of the reality shift, none at all. Any relationship
change as a result of statements that they had made during treatment
would have been a major mistake.

I'm sorry that I can not provide any indication as to how it makes one feel
to take it. Please, don't fear the drug...just remember to be patient and
understanding with the patient.

Good luck and God Bless


It sure changed my state of mind. I was on it for a LONG period of time because of some sinus issues which ended up resulting in surgery. I never felt better in my life. I was unreasonably happy and confident. I was sad when I had to go off it.

From the report on it- I'll Stay on PIE

I took it once for a difficult asthma bout. I think it was for 10-days - like you, large dose for the first couple of days, then tapered off. It increased my appetite and I felt more bloated. Those were the only negative effects I noted. I'm not a medical professional, but my research seems to show that most problems come form long-term use. Maybe a few days will give your system a shock or boost that it needs without causing other problems. I wouldn't take it for long or often.
John

I take prednisone occasionally for severe reactions to poison ivy. My only side effects have been a temporary weight gain and a bloated feeling.

I took it for about 6 months for a crohns flare-up. Like a couple others mentioned, it stimulated my appetite, and made me feel a little bloated. The more serious side effects are mostly related to long term use of a heavy dose. You should not have any problems with short term use. It is a very commonly prescribed drug, used for a whole host of ailments, and very few people have serious problems with it. The reason doctors prescribe it is because it works. Just take it and taper off according to the instructions, and you most likely will not have any problems.

I took a 6-week round of it back in the 80s for an eye condition. I gained weight, lost energy, was bloated, and my skin got dry and flaky (I was a greasy faced teenager so this was dramatic). All that was resolved when I was taken off the prednisone, although the weight took a long time to loose. But that probably had more to do with continuing to be inactive and eating more than I should have.

Altered reality episodes did not happen with me, and I've never heard of that before.

It literally drove my wife "up the wall" and made long-term personality changes. Just one dose.

We ended up with a psychologist, psychiatrist and drugs to get her back to normal. She still sees the psychiatrist occasionally. All paid for privately.

Bloat and heartburn for me.

If it's just for a short period as you say, you may not experience anything unusual at all, or you may get some of the immediate high-dose side effects, most commonly shakiness, maybe a feeling of being unusually wired. It can certainly interfere with sleep, that's for sure. Often it can make you feel more hungry than usual. But it's probably not long enough for any of the longer term adverse effects.

When they tell you to take it with food, do that. It's very important.

I've been on prednisone for over 2 years, myself and I know tons of other people who are or have been on it. I was also on it short term like for a week at a time for allergic reactions some years ago, so I've pretty much seen it all.

In the longer term, it does tend to cause or at least encourage loss of muscle mass (prednisone is a catabolic steroid, the opposite of performance-enhancing anabolic steroids), so it's not the best thing for cyclists, but you do what you have to do.

Arrrgghhh! Not prednisone!

Nasty stuff for me. Doctor prescribed it for ulnar nerve neuropathy. Same kind of thing with a lot of doses tapering off after a month.

Worst stuff he could have prescribed...ended up with successful surgery anyway.

My wife could not stand me on that stuff, it altered my personality that much. Gained weight, nervous, you name it!

Never, never again...:eek:

Good luck on your mg....

I took it once a month as part of chemotherapy for about 6 months, back in 1991-92. For that week my appetite increased, and I gained weight. Had a shot of it for sun poisoning a few years later with the same results.

I recall my voice got husky too.

I was on massive doses for a short period of time to try to deal with what turned out to be a badly herniated disc. At max dose, I wound up at the emergency room with convulsions. It is a very powerful drug. Use with caution.

I was on Dose-Paks treating cerebral edema. It was very necessary but I am glad it was just short-term.

I am definitely a night-owl and normally it's a struggle getting me out of bed in the morning. Things like getting to work on time just don't seem important, being hungry or thirsty isn't enough reason. It's a good thing my house hasn't caught fire as I would probably try just burying my head under the pillow. Fortunately a full bladder does get me out of bed.

On the prednisone, I was blasting out of bed at 6AM to fix breakfast, which ended up being twice normal size portions. And it was also "First Breakfast"; by 7AM I was ready for "Second Breakfast". My appetite was ginormous.

It also jacked with my heartrate. My resting pulse went up 20 beats/minute so it never got below 80 and was normally 80-100 bpm.

Oh yeah, I gained a lot of weight in just that short time.

All common side effects of Prednisone. Steroids are great drugs when you need them, but the side effects are significant.

Just be glad you don't have a chronic disease like COPD or lupus, where you often have to take Prednisone for the rest of your life.

It hurt my stomach so bad that it wasn't worth taking.

I did my back in a while ago, a few years after I had surgery on it, and I was put on prednisone for a short time. The first 24 hrs I was love'n it! Wow! I felt like I had hyper spidey senses and was on top of the world. After 24hrs I hated it. I was wound up, slept crappy and was thrilled to get off of it. BTW, it did work well on the back pain.

My wife has battled Multiple Sclerosis for over 20 yrs. Typical protocol is large doses of prednisone during episodes. It works very well at controlling the episodes but it is not a pleasant drug to live with. Typical symptoms for her, hyper, inability to focus, tired, but can't sleep. Sleep comes in two hour blocks for my wife, if she is lucky. She is about to finish up on the latest round and is tapering off, she can't wait till it is over.

Bottom line, the drug works, but not without side effects.

Best of luck. Listen to your doc and ask lots of questions.

I sent you a PM

I took it for recurrent hives about 2 years ago. Bloat, heartburn (pretty bad at times), trouble sleeping.

HI,
I was having some pretty sever symptoms that were due to some meds I was on,
If your taking a drug like Lipitor, it can mimic serious neuroligical problems, i was having trouble walking and climbing stairs.
Many Doctors forget that some people react to those class of drugs with a muscle problem.Many of the test come back positive for muscle damage cause the med causes it if a few people.They black boxed labeled many of the cholesterol drug in Canada but the drug lobbies in the US are to strong , and the buckets of money they make off the drug.:mad:
remember there are many names and types of statins all are becoming suspect.

Doug
http://www.drug-injury.com/druginjurycom/2005/07/health_canada_a.html

http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/early_comm/ezetimibe_simvastatin.htm

I took it off and on for about 20 years, for severe asthma attacks. Good news is that I'm still alive. Bad news is that at one point I was 100 lbs overweight. I've lost a lot since then, but I still have about 40 to go.

It really exacerbates the appetite. Be warned!