Immune disorder symptoms and conditions

The first time I heard the word prednisone was late Dec 07 when I was hospitalized for severe pneumonia. I started off with a bad sinus infection that quickly advanced into pneumonia in a matter of a couple weeks. I tried 3 courses of antibiotics but I continued to get worse and got to the point where I was unable to breath on my own. Within a day of being at the hospital I felt like I was living in a dream world and from there I continued to get more stoned by the minute. I had no idea I was being pumped full of prednisone intravenously, along with my antibiotics. I was given a dose of 250 mgs daily, and obviously it was way too much for me. As I progressed into my dream world, I had a couple of “episodes” where I acted completely out of character, and got really paranoid and highly emotional. I pulled my IV out of my arm the one night and sat and watched the blood dripping from my hand, not really understanding where I was or what was going on. Later on I got really paranoid that the nursing staff was conspiring against me and talking about me behind my back (lol) , which I normally would not care about, but for some reason it made me really upset and I sobbed uncontrollably at times. I also tried to leave my room in intensive care a few times, as I was convinced that I was not supposed to be there and wanted to go home. My doctors were really freaked out so they gradually lowed my dose over the last few days I was in the hospital, even sent me for a CT scan of my brain in case I was going crazy. Prednisone is an extremely strong and evil drug – that is why I had the adverse reaction!! Not because I’m crazy! And one should never be given a drug like prednisone without their knowledge!! A few weeks after leaving the hospital I started going down hill again and the doctors realized that what I had was an immune disorder and not just pneumonia per se. After a few months of on again off again prednisone (never longer than a week at a time), I was put on a daily regiment (50 mgs) of it starting in May. Since then I have experienced all of the same side effects noted by everyone on here, weight gain, sleeplessness, anxiety, hair growth (the worst is on my face and fingers!!) dizziness, confusion, trembling hands, tooth aches, and the worst of all , big time MOON FACE! I feel like a complete freak most days. I am now tapering and am down to 10 mgs. So far I have seen no improvement in the side effects, accept now I have withdrawal side effects on top of everything - nausea, headaches, flu like symptoms and trouble breathing. I HATE this drug, even though I know it ultimately saved my life in the hospital and my kidneys – as I had complications caused by the autoimmune disorder. I see my doctor next week and I want off this drug completely. I am not sure the benefits out weigh the side effects to be honest. I want to feel normal again and be able to recognize my own face in the mirror  People should use extreme caution when using this drug and it should only be used to save people’s lives, not used for minor things like poison ivy. That is unconscionable!!!! Good luck to all who are on this drug.

I have been on prednisone since November 2007 for minimal change disease, 65 mg, in May I started to decrease the dosage (per Drs. orders) and by the time I got to 15 mg all my symptoms came back and I swelled up again. I was again put on a higher dosage of prednisone and put on Cytoxan 75 mg. I am now decreasing prednisone, back to 15 mg every other day and will be off Cytoxan next month. Hopefully this will work. Right now my main complaint of side effects is chest pressure, anything I eat or drink makes my stomach swell and I feel like I can never take a full breath. I recently had chest and abdoman xrays and an ultrasound, all negative. Does anyone have this symptom? I also have moon face, weight gain, hump on back, insomnia, headaches, digestive problems ,shakes, night sweats, vision problems, extreme tiredness and hair loss. How long before all this goes away?

I was dianosed with an immune disorder of the inner eye. It was advanced enough that regular treatments were not effective. So the dr. started me at 60 mg of prednisone and started to taper it off at 20 mg. every 2 weeks. At 6 weeks, it was observed that my symptoms had reappeared and so he started back at 60 and the tapering was much, much slower (50 mg, 40 mg 30 mg 25 mg 20 mg 15 mg 10 mg 7.5 mg 5 mg 2.5mg) the first week I had panic attacks and wanted to physically attack people. I couldn't sleep. After that I had mood swings, fuzziness, forgetfulness and confusion, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch. I had heart palpitations, moon face (people thought that I'd had dental surgury) went from a size 6 to a size 12. I had terrible yeast infections, and wanted lots of fluid and had frequent urination. It was horrible. By the time I was done (and I had withdrawel symptoms long after I stopped taking it) I'd lost 2 years to the side effects. I do get to keep my eyesight. Fair trade, I suppose. In the next year and a half I lost weight down to a size 2, not as good as it sounds, all my muscle tone had gone and I'm having to rebuild from being nearly skeletal. The worst part of it is.. at any time I can be put back on prednisone and will probably choose to over losing my sight. At what point does one have to worry about osteoporosis? How much prednisone for how long effects the bones? There are things I'd like to do, but I'm not sure if I should.