Emergency treatment symptoms and conditions

i am a 42-year old woman diagnosed with chronic angioedema and it has become life threatening. the doctors say that it's idiopathic--can't tell what's causing it--and don't seem to know how to treat it (or me for that matter--my primary care doctor no longer wants to treat me, wasn't even kind enough to refer me out, the allergist most condescendingly said that in 20 years he's never seen or heard of someone so affected, and my dentist won't touch me because of my allergy to lidocaine.) i've been living with a daily minimum of 75 mg. of benadryl for the last four years but sometimes i've got to up that dosage to round-the-clock so some days as high as 450 mg. i'm allergic to meat protein, sea food, dairy, sodium and most spices, and certain fruits and vegetables. about 3 weeks ago i had a vegan meal at an indian restaurant and the spices accelerated my condition so on the drive back from the eatery my throat began to close and swallowing and breathing became difficult. i have had about 8 such episodes since then and twice have had to call 911 for emergency treatment to get things under control. on my first visit to the er about 2 weeks ago, in addition to the shot of epinephrine, i was given an iv in which they put a shot of benadryl and a shot of some sort of steroid. the doctor gave me a script for prednisone which was on a sliding scale (low dosage, one week.) i ended back up in the er about 4 days later and was given the benadryl and same steroid (think it started with an "s") again, and pepcid (doctor said it was for g-i and would help to limit the histamine being released into my system. since then, i have gotten the swollen belly side effect which i believe is from the prednisone (the angioedema causes blood vessels to swell beneath the skin but i don't think any swelling of this magnitude can be attributed to that). i have yet to find out if this swelling can be reversed with treatment or will go away of it's own accord. i've tried reading up on the reversal of the side effects but just hear more about how horrific they are--you all are truly in my prayers, keep your heads up!!!--so if anyone has experienced the dissipation of the side effects, please let me know and how soon after discontinuing the drug i can expect this disfigurement to go away. i too am dealing with depression for which i am prescribed but i dare not take the meds--far more too many side effect which with to deal and like some others here, i have no support system. i am the mother of the most wonderful 10-year old girl -- she is my heart and my world--but i dare not have her live with me because of this life threatening/altering/controlling condition.

sharing and hoping for good feedback.

blessings.

-vanessa w.

I have been prescribed Prednisone after I had an adverse reaction to an antibiotic which i was taking after an insect bite became infected. I am covered in a sore extremely itchy rash of weels all over my body.

I took 6x5 mg of Presnisone with breakfast and as I was feeling ill because of the rash I took it easy and lay on the sofa suddenly about 60 to 90 minutes after taking the pills I had an overwhelming feel of wanting to be sick and diarrhea, my head was spinning and I came out in a cold sweat. I become very anxious and felt like I would die, so quickly and severely did this come upon me.

All I could do was lie down and let it pass. fortunately my husband was at home and I felt reassured that if needed he would ring for emergency treatment. after a while this feeling passed but did return about an hour later. It took about six hours before I could move my head without feeling sick.

I spoke to my GP on the phone and he said I shouldn't have had a reaction like that, it was not the usually side effect! Reading the post on this forum I think it most definitely a side effect of Prednisone.

Now I have to decide whether to take it again tomorrow I am still very itchy and the rash hasn't got any better but no worse. My GP suggested taking 3x 5mg for breakfast and 3x 5mg with lunch.

I only have to hopefully take it for one more day after that. I do feel for those of you who have no choice but to take.

I had a severe poison ivy/sumac reaction and slowly the swelling in my face reached the point of affecting my breathing, so I had an emergency treatment with Prednisone. This was my first experience with this drug. (I am not one to use allopathic medicine unless it's an emergency.) The first dose was shots, then I was put on a "med pak" of methylprednisolone, to be used for 5 or 6 days, tapering down the dosages day by day. By the third day, I began to find the side effects increasingly intense. I had had a mild headache, some chest pressure, funny bone aches, stomach/liver aches, as well as sensations of spacy-ness, floating feelings, difficulty focusing my eyes at times, and my attention, etc.; but the chest pressure was what worried me most. It was all on the left side. I eventually called the doctor because the pressure and discomfort was beginning to become severe each time I took a pill. He agreed to let me stop the prednisone. I had about 2 days left of tapering to one a day, but couldn't stand to take anymore. It was beginning to feel like a life or death situation! (My rash is flaring a little now, but not seriously. I am using alternative remedies as well, and things don't seem to be reversing to where they were, thankfully.) I had missed quite a bit of work, and did not feel like myself. Yesterday was my 2nd day off the pills, and I stayed home to work on flushing my system of the prednisone. I felt like I was going through withdrawal. Today I feel much more like myself. I know now that a lot of the "sickness" I was feeling wasn't just an allergic reaction to a plant--I was sick from the medicine as well. In fact, I think it was more the medicine than the poison ivy that kept me out of work. I appreciate the use of something like prednisone in emergency cases...it may have saved my life...but from now on, I'm going to do whatever I can to avoid having to ever use this drug again. It was clearly very damaging to my body. I hope I was able to eradicate it enough, and was not on it long enough to cause any permanent damage. I have not noticed any more pain in my chest since stopping the medicine. (I may, however, insist that my doctor run some tests to make sure there isn't damage, although the damage might not be something they could easily measure at this point. I have no history of heart problems, and a stress test a few years back came out great.) I would seriously encourage anyone who has to use prednisone more than a few days to look for alternatives, or insist (to your doctor) on alternatives (that hopefully won't be worse). This drug is VERY, VERY toxic and dangerous!! I'm very aware of how my body responds to what I put in it. A lot of people aren't as in touch with their body's responses, and may start on a roller coaster of treatments as things come up, not realizing that the problem may have to do with their medicine. I believe this is the case with a lot of the elderly who frequently end up taking pills to remedy the symptoms created by other pills! Good luck to everyone, and God bless us all!!!

I STARTED TAKING YASMIN IN FEB 05 AND BY OCT 05 I WAS IN EXCRUTIATING PAIN AND ADMITTED INTO EMERGENCY TREATMENT FOR A BLOOD CLOT THAT BLOCKED 55% OF MY RIGHT LUNG AND 75% OF MY LEFT. I DONT HAVE ANY FAMILY HISTORY OF BLOOD CLOTS, ETC. YASMIN ALMOST COST ME MY LIFE. MY ADVICE FOR PEOPLE THAT ARE TAKING IT, GET OFF!!!!

taking 50 mg prednisone since yesterday - 2 doses only so far. very flushed face and neck, hot from the inside. They are treating angioedema, possibly underlying lupus.

I've always (~40 years) had blood pressure at about 155/60. It seems that my body likes to function at that pressure. A recent severe trauma caused an increase to 200+ systolic requiring emergency treatment. This focused the m.d.'s to prescribe lisinopril to bring me down to their "optimum" ~140 range. 20 mg/day caused a temporary decrease to about 145 for a few days and then some internal readjustment of body chemistry brought the B.P back to 155. I noticed bouts of dry cough many times a day that resulted in chest muscle pains and back pains. Now 40 mg/day is prescribed and the B.P has moved back to ~140 with about twice the severe incidences of dry cough. I'm living on cough drops that offer very little help. Question is, should I trust a group that has a record of multi billion dollar profits relying on scare tactics related to the dangerous effects of high B.P., or rely on what my body is trying to make evident by showing these side effects? These forums should be reviewed by the government for overwhelming evidence of serious drug side effects and the drugs taken off the market.