Cataracts symptoms and conditions

I have been taking prednisone for three years now and I love it. When I am off of it I cannot breath and I get fluid in my lungs and my arthritis comes back and I ache all over. I could not live without it. The only side effects I have is a little weight gain, sweating, and moon face but the side effects are better than the all over acheing and not being able to breath. This drug has been very good to me.

Please someone help. I've been on prednisone for a year and a half. told I had Adrenal Insufficiency and as I was weaned off complained to my doctor about mood swings and not being able to sleep. Now down to low dose and experiencing free fall feeling in chest,shortness of breath and worst of all rage. Want to break things and just die.My mood swings escalated and they want to up my prednisone and told me to see a psychiatrist! My eye sight has changed this past year for the worse. Need new glasses and if they up it I'll go blind! I want my life back. I use to be the most level headed, peacemaking person and now I don't know who I am. Please someone HELP I need advice how to get out of this vicious cycle.
Thanks in advance

I was started on Advair HFA about 35 days ago. A little background about me is that I'm 35 years old, in good physical shape. I'm a competitive cyclists doing road races anywhere from 45-100 miles, I work out 2-4 hours everyday. I've had lifelong chronic asthma, but have fought the disease with my healthy lifestyle. I also play the saxophone.

Since I've been on Advair I've developed a constant sore throat. Been coughing up stuff constantly when I'm out training on my bike. Can't seem to sleep for more than a few hours at a time. The worst side affect has been the leg cramps which are killing my training for up coming races. I have constant leg cramps that force me to get out of bed over and over to work them out. My energy levels have dropped to the point that I can't do even half a workout without being totally wiped out. This is coming from a guy that averages 60miles a day on the bike, the other day I couldn't even do 15 miles and had to stop from the constant cramps and tiredness. This stuff is a nightmare. I've gone back to using nothing but my albuterol inhaler. I'll continue to do lung exercises 4 times a day and completely clean up my diet and basically get this stuff out of my system. Let this be a warning that you can't get something positive without something negative as well.

I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid arthritis at the end of 2007 and have been on prednisone since then. I started on about 105mg a week and am currently trying to reduce it but it is really hard as the moment the dosage goes down I lose all mobility and cannot even get out of bed. I am only 23 years old and really feeling the disease to the extent that I cannot even cope with my life. The prednisone has really taken its toll on me and the side effects are crazy! I just want to go back to my old self as I am finding it sooo hard to get through a single day. My side effects include:

Insomnia, tooth sensitivity, depression, anxiety, mood swings, moon face (my face is so swollen that I cant stand looking in the mirror anymore, dizziness, temper, feelings of uselessness, nightmares, night sweats, water retention, and to top it all off the arthritis is getting worse and I am in constant pain. Is there anything anyone can suggest then please help me!

I started taking prednisone when I was only 12 years old and I was on it for about a year and a half. At the age of 10, I was diagnosed with glaucoma, uveitis and cataracts and for about 10 years now I have had all these illnesses. My experience with prednisone had been HORRIBLE. Within two months alone, I gained 50 pounds, my skin started to get really really thin, I started to develop stretch marks ALL over my body with the only exception of my face and hands. I started to get the chipmuk cheeks to the point that my family was afraid that I was going to literally explode. My liver was damaged. My kidney was damaged. The vertebrates in my spine where being chipped away. There was a point in that year and a half where the doctors told me that there was a 70% chance of me going blind. The bottom line was that PREDNISONE WAS BRINGING NOTHING FOR ME EXCEPT RUIN. On top of that, I was constantly depressed. Kids at school would point at laugh hysterically at me. And if people weren't laughing, they were struck by fear and were trying to figure out what exactly I was. I remember this one instance in my school cafeteria where one girl stood up on the lunch table, pointed at me and screamed SHE'S AN ALIEN!!

I was and still am scarred physically and emotionally. My arms and stomach are really saggy because the skin is soo thin. As I said my entire body is scarred with stretch marks. I can't show the slightest bit of my body to anyone because I am so ashamed, embarrassed and afraid of peoples judgments. I am afraid that no one will ever want to be in a relationship with me.

All I can tell you is that though I stopped using it about six and a half years ago, this dreaded drug has truly ruined my life from the very start of my childhood.

I had a kidney transplant feb08. I was put on prednisone as a rejection med. So far, i have gained 50 lbs, my hair has fallen out, had mood swings when first put on it. Haven't noticed them lately, have little bumps under my skin, not acne, have started noticing slight breathing problems, when trying to walk to lose the weight. Yesterday I was diagnosed with cataract. Eye doctor said that it is another side effect of the med. I am under the impression that, I am on this for rest of my life. Whats next?

I am a 44 year old male. I was on Advair for 7 years. I had Cataract surgery at 42 in both eyes. I was just diagnosed with Osteoporosis in my lumbar spine and osteopenia in my legs. Has anyone has these side effects? And has anyone been able to prove a link to Advair and these side effects? Please email me at ****** and thank you in advance.

I have been weaning off Prednisone for sometime, from 50mg down to 5mg in two week steps, 5mg at a time. I've had quite a few of the physical side effects of Prednisone, though none so severe that I would have considered not taking the drug, as it is helping the neuropathy that it was described for. When I hit the 5mg dose, I really seemed to be having trouble with my mental state. I seemed to switch back and forth from knowing what was going on to wondering if I was starting to go insane or losing touch with reality. Hard one to explain. It seems to occur later in the day when I am fairly tired. Back on 10 mg for the last three days and seem to be tired but not so mentally confused. Don't know if this is all from the Prednisone, though. Has anyone out there had any seemingly similar mental things happen on this drug. Thanks in advance for answering if you have had these experiences, they are scary and am hoping that it is the drug and not something else.

So happy to find this site. I never noticed My son never had an eye tick until last month, ironically we started giving him Singular on a daily basis about the same time. My son just turned two and is has also been waking up screaming 3 times every night. Have others reported this same problem...also he is on Pulmicort too, have you read that it is linked to Glaucoma and Cataracts? Do you think that this could be causing the tick? Please HELP! I want a parent's opinion before bringing this up to the doctor...they are so quick to jump to more drugs it makes me sick! Thank you! Any other children with eye "ticks" like really quick consecutive blinks?

4 yr. old son on Albuterol and Pulmicort for asthma triggered by allergies and colds. He is off of both during the summer, once he goes on the medication for the allergy season he experiences mood swings, violent tantrums, is confrontational, basically his personality changes. We have tried reducing the dose and cutting out one medication or the other with the same effect, the symptoms persist. We feel we have no choice because of the severe asthma attacks.

Thank you so much for your website. I cannot begin to tell you what this drug has done to ruin my life.

I had been on it for over 4 years on a misdiagnoses (Never should have been on it) and was told
“It was no worse than Tylenol.” Ok I thought as I was suffering from a few swollen joints every
now and then but was fine otherwise.

Then one day I was working and someone noticed my face was swelling. I looked in the mirror and
low and behold my face was rubbing my glasses. I asked my doctor and he said “it will go away soon.”
I am very athletic so I continued to run and work out as I slowly went from a 30” waist to a 50” inch waist!!
People at my office thought I was on a food binge like no other. My wife was stunned on how fast this
happened as was my family. Now the problem had gotten much worse. Constant body aches and swollen ankles.
After a year I went from jogging, to walking, to using a cane to using a walker…how sad my family felt
for me and no friends insight. my company then laid me off as I used the walls as a walker and simply could
“perform up to par.”

Next came the extremely high sugar, blood pressure, Glaucoma and I suddenly noticed I was having problems
seeing. Went to the eye doctor and was told I was getting cataracts but it would take a couple of years to form.
90 days later I could not drive and could barely see in both eyes, now I was almost blind.
Now 80lbs overweight almost blind with Glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes and cataracts. not to mention severe depression and mood swings that were unbearable, and yes still using a walker from severe muscle pain.

Well the time came where I lost my health insurance and was unemployed. I was out of Prednisone
one day and called my doctor. He said come in for $320.00. I said I didn’t have it and pleaded for them to call
in a 30 day supply, I was told that they “weren’t a charity” and “go to the emergency room” click!! My wonderful
doc was gone. Well I went to the emergency room the next day and was told “they don’t give refills.” I had been
off prednisone for a day and as some people know if you stop that high of dose for that long you may die from
adrenal crisis. So I stood in the emergency room for 12 hours waiting to go into this crisis! Finally a nurse convinced
a doctor to see me for 30 seconds, gave me a refill and a list of welfare clinics and booted me out the door. They
hated my appearance and hated me for no cash.

One day I decided to end this nonsense and tread everything I could from sources I hadn’t read that were very old
regarding what was wrong with me. I went on self imposed diet of 1000 calories a day and lost 60 lbs…yes!!
I stated weaning from the Prednisone and took a ton of supplements I had read about. I got down to 7.5mg every
other day. Yes, suffering tremendous total body aches, severe mood swings, dizziness, severe hunger and
confusion but I plowed though. By the way I don’t recommend this but I couldn’t get a refill for a prescription from anyone
because I ‘had made to much money.” So I turned to the Internet for everything. I bought 500 5mgs for $23.00 screw the doctors I don’t need their prescriptions. I am now totally off for 6 weeks I do have some bad stiffness, muscle aches and mood swings but after 4 years of pure hell I am truly thankful to be off this dangerous drug, it ruined my life.

So I went to a new Doctor finally and my diagnoses was a food allergy and simply had a small stint of bursitis a total mis- diagnoses from my first Doctor! Doctors aren’t gods so take it from me trust yourself first and do your research.

My prayers to all who suffer from this drug. Damn the incompetent doctors who wrongly prescribe it!

Dan

PS Does anyone know how long these severe body aches last after completely stopping. Its been 6 weeks and its just a little better. My doctor told me to fight it out or get back on pred. NO WAY!!

Thank you so much for your website. I cannot begin to tell you what this drug has done to ruin my life.

I had been on it for over 4 years on a misdiagnoses (Never should have been on it) and was told
“It was no worse than Tylenol.” Ok I thought as I was suffering from a few swollen joints every
now and then but was fine otherwise.

Then one day I was working and someone noticed my face was swelling. I looked in the mirror and
low and behold my face was rubbing my glasses. I asked my doctor and he said “it will go away soon.”
I am very athletic so I continued to run and work out as I slowly went from a 30” waist to a 50” inch waist!!
People at my office thought I was on a food binge like no other. My wife was stunned on how fast this
happened as was my family. Now the problem had gotten much worse. Constant body aches and swollen ankles.
After a year I went from jogging, to walking, to using a cane to using a walker…how sad my family felt
for me and no friends insight. my company then laid me off as I used the walls as a walker and simply could
“perform up to par.”

Next came the extremely high sugar, blood pressure, Glaucoma and I suddenly noticed I was having problems
seeing. Went to the eye doctor and was told I was getting cataracts but it would take a couple of years to form.
90 days later I could not drive and could barely see in both eyes, now I was almost blind.
Now 80lbs overweight almost blind with Glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes and cataracts. not to mention severe depression and mood swings that were unbearable, and yes still using a walker from severe muscle pain.

Well the time came where I lost my health insurance and was unemployed. I was out of Prednisone
one day and called my doctor. He said come in for $320.00. I said I didn’t have it and pleaded for them to call
in a 30 day supply, I was told that they “weren’t a charity” and “go to the emergency room” click!! My wonderful
doc was gone. Well I went to the emergency room the next day and was told “they don’t give refills.” I had been
off prednisone for a day and as some people know if you stop that high of dose for that long you may die from
adrenal crisis. So I stood in the emergency room for 12 hours waiting to go into this crisis! Finally a nurse convinced
a doctor to see me for 30 seconds, gave me a refill and a list of welfare clinics and booted me out the door. They
hated my appearance and hated me for no cash.

One day I decided to end this nonsense and tread everything I could from sources I hadn’t read that were very old
regarding what was wrong with me. I went on self imposed diet of 1000 calories a day and lost 60 lbs…yes!!
I stated weaning from the Prednisone and took a ton of supplements I had read about. I got down to 7.5mg every
other day. Yes, suffering tremendous total body aches, severe mood swings, dizziness, severe hunger and
confusion but I plowed though. By the way I don’t recommend this but I couldn’t get a refill for a prescription from anyone
because I ‘had made to much money.” So I turned to the Internet for everything. I bought 500 5mgs for $23.00 screw the doctors I don’t need their prescriptions. I am now totally off for 6 weeks I do have some bad stiffness, muscle aches and mood swings but after 4 years of pure hell I am truly thankful to be off this dangerous drug, it ruined my life.

So I went to a new Doctor finally and my diagnoses was a food allergy and simply had a small stint of bursitis a total mis- diagnoses from my first Doctor! Doctors aren’t gods so take it from me trust yourself first and do your research.

My prayers to all who suffer from this drug. Damn the incompetent doctors who wrongly prescribe it!

Dan V

I was diagnosed as having chrones. My doctor prescribed me with Endocort.

After taking it and still have problems I got a blood test and showed my sugar level had gone to 340- I now have diabetes.

I'm posting for my father as he's not into computers. He went to the hospital for COPD - emphysema and he was on Prednisone for 10 days that he was there followed by 3 weeks of tapering it off. I didn't listen to his complaints and now I feel bad, it seems that his blurred vision and teeth and gum pain are serious, and a couple of his teeth have basically fallen out. Does anyone know if the vision problems were permanent? Obviously it's too late for his teeth...

I am very grateful for this blog because your collective experiences helped me figure out why I've been having depression and anxiety. I started on Advair 100/50 about 2 years ago and experienced wonderful relief from asthma symptoms. The drug seemed like a godsend.

However, just recently my boss noticed that my personality had changed, and she asked me if everything was OK. I said I've had a lot of trouble with depression and anxiety lately. I was just attributing it to aging (I'm 54).

Now after reading the many entries here about depression and anxiety, I realize that my symptoms are probably caused by the Advair. I've actually had the symptoms for quite some, but they were subtle at first, so I didn't link them to the Advair.

I'm going back to my doctor to see if I can get off of this stuff. I'm currently down to one puff per day, but I experience serious asthma symptoms when I try to quit completely. I'll probably need to go back to using a nebulizer at least during the withdrawal period.

2 yrs ago I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. I have been on Topamax since, because of the severe pain it causes. I have never experienced weight loss and I was on up to 400mg a night. I am now on 200mg a night. My tastes are fine and my drinking sodas were never like metal. But for the fatigue of the disease I also take Provigil in the morning. I have noticed my eyes have changed. Never gave it a thought to be Topamax. Plus I just got new glasses again 3 months ago and am seeing a change in my sight again. Also there is a noise in my ears,not ringing,but sounds like crickets. Never had that before. I was on 2 other meds but I took myself off of them because I really don't like taking so many. The others had worse side effects. Until they find a cure for this disease it looks like I'm stuck with Topamax. This is one pain I will not and can not live with.

I am a 66 year old male being treated for giant cell arteritis and have been on prednisone for one year and ten days. The disease and its treatment with prednisone has completely reordered my life. My doctor told me that I dodged the big bullet but there would be more. He was right. The 60 mg dose of prednisone I started with was both a life and eye saver. Three months later I was down to 40 mg and I was starting to sleep more than the two - four hours per night that allowed me to all kinds of things done which the increased adrenlin made possible.

Unfortunately, the prednisone made control of my blood sugar nearly impossible even with maximum dosages of metformin and avandia. I was soon forced to add injections of insulin to my daily regime. As I gradually reduced the amount of prednisone I gained some measure of control but was not able to start decreasing the amounts of insulin I was taking until I had dropped down below 20 mg. Now that I am down to 5mg I'm off the insulin and two weeks ago I took my last metformin tab.

Prednisone accelerated the growth of cataracts in both of my eyes. I was taking the prednizone with the hope it would drive the arteritis into remission and I would avoid going blind. And I was blinded anyway by the cataracts. Fortunately the cataract surgery I had in May and June better than restored my sight. I now only need glasses for reading. I was thrilled and could even see myself going back to work at least on a part time basis. No such luck.

After telling my doctor how great it was to be able to read again I mentioned that I thought I had a groin pull because I had been experiencing pain in my groin area and the top of my right thigh just above the knee. That got his attention and he said it might be related to the prednisone. He sent me for a MRI of both hips. The results were not good. I was diagnosed with avascular necrosis in both femur bones with some deterioration of the right femoral ball. A month later I had core decompression surgery of the right femur. The surgeon told me that we had caught it early and this surgery had a 50/50 chance of restimulating the venus blood path that fatty deposits caused by the prednisone had closed off causing the bone to die. Unfortunately, it now looks that it didn't work for me and I have additional micro fractures of the ball joint that weren't there when he operated. My left hip isn't far behind and I now have enough pain in both hips even with the anti inflamatory medicine I'm taking to make it difficult for me to walk to the mail box or negotiate stairs.

I hope that I'll be able to wean myself off the prednisone entirely, but for those folks that are putting up with all the most common side effects, getting down to and below 5 mg per day will seriously reduce if not eliminate the effect they have on you. That includes the fat face and turkey neck, and the thin skin that shows vividly every bump and bleeds profusly with the slightest abrasion that more often than not you can't recall the incident that caused it. The giant cell (also known as templar) arteritis disease I developed was devastating to me and really put me down for the count. I lost 30 of my obese pounds in the first two weeks of symptoms I had with this disease. Even though I was over weight, I was very active and got lots of exercise doing my own lawn work ( 1 acre lot) with a walk behind mower and lots of leaves to rake. Within two months after diagnosis I had managed to work my way up to a two mile walk everday. After 3 months I was walking between 15 and 20 miles every week. Now, as I said, I'm lucky to walk to the end of my driveway to get the mail.

Prednisone is not a miricle drug. It is a terrible medicine with terrible side effects that has been arround for a very long time. Unfortunately, it is the only medicine available to successfully treat a wide range of autoimmune diseases that have no cure and would be absolutely unbearable without it.

My husband was given a sample of this for a month-long bout of bronchitis and we are now thinking it has done permanent damage to his vocal chords. He only used it 5 times, got thrush (yeast infection) in his throat and is still hoarse after a week of being off of it. Does anyone know the history of this drug and has the word "class action lawsuit" crossed anyone's mind besides mine? I am amazed at the way pharmaceutical companies run the healthcare business in this country!

I don't want to go off on a rant here, but are people aware that a large portion of the FDA's operating budget is provided by pharmaceutical manufacturers? This isn't our first experience with this type of thing and I'm about to launch a grassroots campaign to educate the public. Maybe they'll stop believing all the marketing hype.

I'm thinking that the pharmaceutical companies ought to heed the Hippocratic oath - FIRST, DO NO HARM. Wouldn't it be a remarkably different world if they would take all the money they're spending on marketing and use it to lower the price of orphan and AIDS drugs? They keep saying that research is expensive - and advertising on every possible television show, radio and magazines is cheap? Hello? Are we going to be sheep or are we going to be citizens and hold these companies responsible for what they're doing. Thanks for letting me vent. Please contact me if you want to do something about this. And no, I'm not an attorney, but I'm a writer and I think I just found out what my first book is going to be about...

Was on Prednisone 2 years ago for respiratory problems 30mg. Gained 25 pounds, fat face, felt tired, etc.

However 2 years later, after weaning off Prednisone my muscles ache, joints are most always stiff, esp. hands plus my feet feel numb and my short term memory has not returned to normal----does any one else out there have similar problems. What can be done?

Just amazing how things react differently on different people.
I have been on Prednisone for almost 5 weeks now and have LOST weight. I eat because I am supposed to not because I want to, I am NOT hungry !!! I sleep like a baby too... go figure? However, I am weaning off it and am down to 5mg a day and I am experiencing headaches and leg pain which I did not have while on a higher dose (15mg). I love the stuff although I think I am in a minority of one in the world. I feel great when I am on it even though have used it in the past and developed cataracts from it at the age of 48 (now 49) and have already had one cataract removed.

I have Cystic Fibrosis and am age 54 in a few months. I have cataracts and detaching vitreous, opthalmic conditions which are common to people 20 years older. The opthalmologist suggested that use of steroids over the years could have caused it. My use of steroids was very limited until age 40 when I started Flovent/Serevent inhalers. I believe the Advair, which became continuous use 4 years ago caused my eyes to degrade within one year of use. Please bring back Serevent and Flovent, and please discontinue powdered inhalers. That is in conflict with reactive airway disease in my opinion!!!

I have only been on Advair for 2.5 weeks and am getting off today. I am having heart racing, anxiety, and the feeling of shortness of breath (even though the peak flow monitor shows my breathing is fine). In addition I feel like I am coming out of my skin with a miserable feeling in my head. I know this is the Advair because this is a side effect I have with decongestants too. My mother and sister have been taking this for years and now I am wondering about their weight gain and my mother's cataracts. I also have some of the other symptoms that others have mentioned but not sure they are related. I have the frequent urination at night also, I think some of us are more prone to have that side effect with certain drugs. The people that mentioned the rash or itchness, it is not just a side effect but a reaction and the insert says to call your doctor with that symptom. Remember it is a steriod and you cannot just stop this medication without informing your doctor and maybe weaning off of it.

45 yr old
advair for 10 years
cataracts, both eyes
episcleritis
corneal abrasions
increased phlegm and hoarseness
joint pain and swelling (constant)
difficulty sleeping
itchy skin
bruising

I am 21 years old and have been on prednisone off and on for about 2 years. I have went from 60Mg to about 20mg for about 6 months. My knees hurt badly when I squat for about 5 minnutes and stand up. I also have been having trouble focussing on things. I was also wondering if anyone has heard of any long term effects like say 10 years later.

Notice--if you know anyone Blind that takes the Drugs-Actos or Avandia-Please spread the word
THESE DRUGS CAN CAUSE YOU TO GO BLIND
In Jan 2000 I was prescribed 15 mil per day Actos-in a few months it was raised to 25 mil per day-in Oct 01 it was raised to 35 mil-in Aug 01 I had a light stroke in NOV 01-vision got very blurry.
My Dr sent me to a Dr of Ophthalmology, Tulsa, OK-the Dr stated, we can fix this, you got to me in time. We started Lasers, 3 treatments in left eye & one treatment in right eye, vision got worse. Now I had Cystoids Macular Edema. Shots in the eyes 2 in right & 4 in left of Kenalog.
About July 03 my medication was changed from Actos to Avandia. Since Kenalog can worsen cataracts, I had cataract surgery on left eye Dec 24th 03-it was wonderful I could hardly waite to get right eye done. Jan 04 we done cataract surgery on right eye--My vision was 20-20-BUT-only for a few days!! The swelling had come back.
On Jan 6th of this year I was watching the local evening news-they stated the F D A has put out a warning on the drug Avandia-in research, Actos & Avandia have some of the same ingredients --Could my problem be the medication?
I stopped taking Avandia on Jan 7th-I watch my blood sugar well & it is better since I stopped taking Avandia All the things that were being done to my eyes was all in vain as the drug was causing such swelling.
My vision is getting better by the day since I stopped taking, Avandia. Now my problem is all the lasers, shots & work that has been done to my eyes in trying to fix a problem I did not have.
Pat ***
If