Back ground symptoms and conditions

Ok here's my story with Prednisone. Let me first give you a little back ground info on me. Born with a VSD, that was repaired at 8 months of age, only after developing severe pneumonia. Was fine as a child growing up until at 18 i developed asthma. i am 29 now and have been on and off prednisone during that time. During that time however I have always been on a metered dosage pack that has always tapered usually within 5 days with no side effects.

Now lets talk present day with me. First off I went in back in early Sept. for what I thought was just a sinus infection, turns out my lungs were so tight, i was immediately put on 80 mg for 5 days straight, and you guessed it no tapering. Those 5 days were the worst five days of my life. I have SVT- taychcardia and the med made it worst, I was running around like I was on Speed or something. Also, I had started to urinate like crazy. Headaches, nausea, muscle pain as well as joint pain. i can not walk without feeling as though my knees, and ankles are going to break. Also, i am not as foccused as I usually am. Ever since that faithfully day in September I have been on this stuff. it has already been 2 months and im on 40mg now. And I cannot sleep at all at night and during the day now i crash once it seems like the prednisone starts wearing off. its horrible. I am going to go see the Pulmanologist Monday hopefully he will have some answers, and Im dreading him telling me i may have COPD, from a protien defiency(sorry for spelling, this med is messing with my thought process). Any who, i cant just stop taking it, i have been warned about that. something has to give or my body may give up.

hope this helps.

this med is good if used correctly but i agree Doctors need to fully warn patients before hand of all possible side effects.

Just an update from some of my previous posts. As back ground, I had a need for birth control beginning about a year and a half ago. It was time for my annual anyway, so I asked my OB/GYN of over 20 years what my options were. He mentioned that there were two pills for women "of my age" (42 at the time)...Yaz and Loestrin 24FE. He mentioned that he had heard less about libido issues from his patients on the Loestrin, so I opted for that. 5 months into it, I had an episode of I'm not sure what...felt like I was having a stroke...rush of heat, extreme dizziness, headache the next day...went to my GP on Monday and found out that my BP was slight elevated (I'm normally on the low side) but what was alarming was that my cholesterol was way up and my blood sugar was off the charts. Although high cholesterol runs in my family, no one has ever had any blood sugar issues. Stopped taking the pill right away, retested my sugar in two weeks and it was back to normal.

My OB/GYN said NO NO NO, no more pills...let's try an IUD. two months later, went back since I had my next cycle and I got the Mirena. I spotted for like a month and a half straight. Lots of bloating, headaches. As the months progressed, I started having anxiety issues (again, never happened before), had severe cystic acne (always had good skin), bloating to the point that I looked the way I did when I was 5 months pregnant, headaches every single day, extreme fatigue, blurry vision, complete inability to concentrate, mental fog, insomnia and my libido was in the toilet.

Went back for my annual in Feb and had it removed (I had it for 5 months at this point). Dr was wonderful, said that he had been hearing of these side effects more and more from his patients. He said that we'd give my body a break and then consider a Paragard with my next cycle. I feel the fog lift before I get to the parking lot. Next cycle never came. Hot flashes and heart pulps start in March. Gets worse and worse. Have my hormone levels tested...they indicate post-menopausal. Have the blood work repeated first week of June...confirmed post-menopausal at the age of 43. No family history of this. Start on an estrogen patch and within 2 weeks start feeling a lot better, flashes gone. Am taking Prometrium 10 days each month to protect against uterine issues. At day 8 I really start getting dizzy. I am obviously very sensitive to any progesterone although this natural version is more tolerable.

From the time I had the Mirena out, however, ALL my side effects are gone except that my vision is still worse...having my annual eye exam in 2 weeks. The concentration issues, insomnia, fatigue, anxiety...all that GONE. Libido is almost back. Very distinct diminishing of symptoms once the Mirena was removed.

If Mirena works for you, that's great. It's good at least that you are aware of issues others have had so that if it happens to you, you know that it could be the Mirena, contrary to what some doctors say. My doctor has been wonderful and never doubted me. I wish everyone had such a doctor! Just trust your intuition and take care of yourself. No sense jeopardizing your health, relationships, etc just to maintain this type of birth control. I apparently don't need birth control any more....not certain why I blitzed through menopause so fast...could be related to the hormonal assault on my body in the past year between the pill and the Mirena.

Bottom line, take care of yourselves and don't be dismissed if you feel that something is just not right!!

I was given 20 mg of Prednisone for 10 days for a rash and joint pain.
The pain went away and I felt great the rash got a little better. Two days ago I took my last pill. I woke up that night and my knees gave out. By morning I was great! Next night I woke with knee problem again had to slide down the stairs to the living room. I got to wondering if the knee thing could be associated with the Prednisone. I got on line and read all this terrible stuff. I am so Horrified! Today I am in pain like my body is bruised and my face is swollen a little. I have acid reflux as well. Non of this is typical for me. My knee thing is ok again, but I am just appalled! I have no MED insurance. I hope this isn't the beginning of worse things I am not taking that drug now. The Dr. didn't say I needed to taper...

I hope I have not damaged myself by taking this drug! My heart goes out to all of you! My question is - Why are the Dr.'s prescribing this terrible drug?