Prednizone symptoms and conditions

hello again ladies. i'm 3 weeks 4 days post removal of mirena and i'm just having my first proper period. it is heavier than normal, but bearable. i was just wondering if anyone else has really bad headaches after removal. i'm not usually a headache sufferer, i was wondering if it could be hormone related.
the heartburn i was previously experiencing has completely cleared up, (so far) the pregnancy feeling has gone and i'm no where near as agitated or moody. i'm so glad i had the evil device removed i do feel better but not completely yet.

also i don't know if anyone else has the the same problem, but i've been having blood tests because i was feeling ill and having joint pain. i had blood tests which showed a raised esr level. i had the test repeated 3 weeks post removal and its the level has dropped quite a lot. it was 20 which is the lowest result i've had so far. i've been tested for lupus arthritis etc, could mirena have been the culprit all along? hmmmmmm..........

My mother, who is in her early 70's, is diabetic and had high cholesterol. She had been taking Lipitor and the doctor increased her dosage. She was experiencing muscle pain for some time, especially when she woke in the morning. The muscle pain worsened and her muscles became very weak. She had been complaining to her doctor for some time. It took a chiropractor to suggest it was the Lipitor. Her doctor finally ordered blood work and her enzyme levels were at 9500. She was immediately hospitalized, tests run and IV's given to flush the Lipitor from her system. She was expected to slowly recover. After weeks, her levels dropped to 6500 then began to rise. Her doctor now says her muscle damage is permanent and plans to give her prednisone to stop the inflammation. This muscle damage is a terrible "side effect" for a drug that was supposed to help her. She can hardly get up or down from a sitting or lying position, can hardly walk and her lifestyle has been severely curtailed. She is also exhausted all the time.

My husband was prescribed 500 MG of Levaquin for 10 days due to respiratory infection. When I got the medicine home, I read all of the warnings and possible side affects. He is 61 and has had tendon damage in his shoulder and his lower leg from taking Cipro two years ago. He had severe joint pain from Bactrim and hallucinations from Flagyl. From these previous antibiotics he still suffers pains and limitations of movement. What is worse is that they prescribed Prednisone with the Levaquin. It clearly states in the warnings that Levaquin taken with Prednisone increases the likelihood of tendon damage. The warnings state that people over 60 have increased risk of tendon damage. Why on earth did his doctor prescribe this? My husband is 61 and was too sick to research all of this on his own. It has obviously become more profitable to make people sicker.
I found this forum and called his doctor. I refused to give him this terrible Levaquin and asked for a prescription for something milder. The Doxycylene seems to be working just fine to clear his infection.
A word of warning to all to not drink the Kool Aid that they give you without asking questions. Any health care system that sustains itself by keeping people ill is a bad one. Think about it. If people are healthy, then where is the profit?
This Levaquin sounds like some kind of bad snake oil to me and I am thankful to have read the warnings and then found this helpful forum. I am so sorry for the pain that most of you have suffered and are suffering. We are living with damage from antibiotics and we understand your anger. Take good care of yourselves.

I am being treated for ulcertive colitis. I have been on prednisone since Sept of 08. I started out on 40 mg. In late Oct. my doctor started tapering me off 5mg per month. Each month following the tapering date, I would get sick. As I look back, all the signs of withdrawal were there. This Jan. I tapered once again, but the window was only 3 weeks. I hit rock bottom. If there was a symptom, I have it. Nausea, burning in my digestive tract, diarrhea every time I eat, muscle ache, numbness in my legs, swollen feet, sore bones and joints. ( The worst was in my feet. I ended up seeing a podiatrist. He thought plantar faciaitis until I told him about being on prednisone. The small bones in my foot were swelling, The muscles in my calf were buning they were so sore. That was last week. Today my other foot started. I can hardly walk. In addition to that, I am lightheaded, have elevated blood pressure, and fatigue. I also had some vision problems that sent me to the doctor. I went through a ton of testing which all were negative. It seems that pseudotumor is another symptom of withdrawal. I have a history of that. It would have been nice to know that. As I look back each month, I had different muscle and joint pain that lasted about a week. I was put on an acid reducer in Dec. to help my stomach, but in all of this time, I was not told that these all may be withdrawal symptoms. I have been off work for two weeks now in addition to the days I missed each month. My physician is now controlling the tapering procedure. They up the dose to 10 mg again. They plan on weaning me by 1mg doses. This has been a terrible experience for me. I have only been severely sick one other time in my life. This pain is awful. It is chronic. This drug may be beneficial, but it is like poison too. Anyone who takes this should really ask a lot of questions, and be careful..

I was giving prednisone for only 5 days (not sure about dose, but it tapered to one pill on the last day) for a bronchitis induced severe asthma attack. I have only had asthma twice in my 50 years, both times associated with a bad case of bronchitis. The "doc in the box" reduced his original dosage due to the 3 corisone injections I recently had in my spine. After reading these posts I feel grateful I wasn't on a higher, longer term dose. I have some of the same side effects listed here including uncontrollable appetite, fat gain around the middle, water weight gain, constantly having to urinate, superhuman energy, heart palpitations, and approximately two weeks after finishing, I began to get a mustache (hairs that were previously white became brown over a two week period). I have read on the internet and been told by my pharmacist that this is temporary. I have also read and been told that the 2mg estradiol I take every day since my hysterectomy causes the body to retain and not rid itself of the steroids as it normally would (estrogen is actually listed as drug interaction with prednisone). The doctor in the box apparently just ignored this interaction and prescribed it anyway. However the main reason I am posting is a very strange possible side effect that occurred approximately 1 week after my final dose. I was awakened in the middle of the night with SEVERE pain (felt like bone pain, not muscle) in my right knee that lasted until morning. By mid morning it was gone. The next night I had the same experience but in both knees. It lasted about 5 more days, gradually tapering in intensity, and then just went away. I do have severe arthritis in my lumbar and cervical spine, having had surgeries to repair injuries from a snowmobiling accident. I have normal arthritis elsewhere for a 50 year old, but have NEVER had issues with my knees. Has anyone had this strange symptom? None of my doctors (internist, rheumatologist, physiatrist - who gave me the injections and prescribed physical therapy for my spine) had any explanation. The only explanation I have is the prednisone because I had taken the Z-pac (antibiotic) with no side effects several times in the past. Weird!

Incidentally, I am off the prednisone for about 5 weeks, am still hungry all the time, still fat, still bloated. Unfortunately the extra energy is gone. Best of luck to everyone on this strange drug. My heart sincerely goes out to all of you on long term therapy. God bless.

I had a cold/sinus infection for almost three weeks, so I went to the doctor on Tuesday and he put me on the z-pak. That night I woke up at 4 am with a server ear infection and drove myself to the ER. They put me on Cipro and ear drops..well the next day I woke up feeling even worse and had laryngitis and it burned to breathe, so on Friday morning I went back to my general doctor and he took me off the cipro and prescribed me AVELOX. I took it this morning (Saturday) and within 15 minutes I had a really itchy throat, and my upper lip started tingling. I had panic attacks, was gasping for air and by the time I left for the ER my entire face had swelled, and my eyes were swelling shut. The put me on an IV drip steroid & IV pepcid, waited till my swelling went down & sent me home with prednisone & pepcid for the next 4 days, and said just to finish off my zpak. The scary thing is that this happened within 15 minutes of my first dose..I think this is a terrible drug! I should have just stayed on the z-pak to begin with!

I took z pack Monday morning and woke up Tuesday morning and found red spots all over my right ankle and lower leg anf its hard to walk when you first get up and its stiff.
They took me off it and put me on Prednizone and to put a cold wash cloth on it.And keep it elevated.

Following a deadly allergic reaction to Celebrex, I was given an injection of prednizone, and prescribed 60 mgs. of Prednizone per day for a week. By the third day, my anxiety and what they call "steroid psychosis" was so bad I thought I was going mad. I suffered horrible insomnia, crying attacks, paranoia, fear...you name it. On the fourth day, my knee swelled up horribly and walking was nearly impossible. I stopped taking Prednizone cold turkey on the fourth day (which you are NOT supposed to do, but my doctor didn't tell me that). It has been over 6 weeks since the episode and I am still suffering knee and joint pain, gained 26 pounds and have a red face and horrible acne. My knee has a horrific bulge still. I had an MRI on the knee, and they say that I have fluid buildup on the joint. I have no idea how long it will take to get this drug out of my system, but I would caution anyone to seriously reconsider taking it unless it is life threatening. I believe my allergic reaction could have been treated with just benadryl alone.

I just finished my seventh day of Avelox today for rhinitis (sinus). The dry mouth and throat is very bad. I wake up about twice a night to drink water. My mouth and throat gets so dry. It even gets dry and sticky throughout the day. I am drinking so much water. I have noticed about an hour after I take it, I get dizzy and become very anxious. I even start thinking about all of my symptoms and begin to freak out. I have had about two panic attacks this week. I do not like the changes it has done to me. I have also been very emotional and sad. I think I have cried about three times this week. I am glad I am finished...no more depression! My sinus infection is better though.

After an allergic episode about a year ago, I was diagnosed with asthma. The doc put me on advair (2 puffs - twice a day) . After 4 months, I started having an anxiety issues. I couldn't turn my mind off, felt restless and was stressed out and full of worry about dying from the asthma. At this time I got a job 80 miles from where I was living and had to move. My family and friends attributed my mental state to my life change. Up until now, I had never had any issues with anxiety or depression. Over the course of about another 4 months things got worse and I went to see a asthma/allergy specialist. He put me on Allegra for my allergies and prednisone for the asthma. Needless to say, things got exponentially worse. i could not sleep, was restless and found that I would just get up and run around my backyard. The anxiety had gotten so bad with the lack of sleep that I almost couldn't take life. The doc never let me know about the side effects of the prednizone. A month later (now almost nine months from my original diagnosis) I went back to the doc to see what was wrong because of the depression and anxiety. He sent me to the pysc unit to arrange counseling. That never happened due to the business of the clinic I was at. 2 weeks later I stopped taking the Allegra and Advair. Within a day to day and a half I felt like a huge weight had lifted and it took a couple months to get back to what I would call fairly normal life. I share this just in case someone else is having similar effects or life events. It has taken almost 6 months to shake the mental patterns from the few months of exposure that I experienced. Know your body, listen to it and don't blindly accept what a doctor tells you without research. Doctors are a great asset, but science only goes so far and then God.

My son came down with pneumonia about two years ago. After being hospitalized for his pneumonia for five days(his oxygen was at 83 percent), he was put on Albuterol and Pulmicort for about a year which was working ok till his wheezing started to get worse .His doctor said it was time to see a asthma specialist in Forth Worth, Texas named Dr. Rogers. Well, Dr. Rogers evaluated my son and took an xray of his nose, diagnosed him with sinusitis and with severe asthma . MY son was put on Advair 115/21 immediately and told to get off all other medicine including his Pulmicort. He was to use the Advair two puffs twice daily every day . HE was to use the Albuterol when he was coughing or needed it for rescue. I got the Advair and as a cautious parent , I always read all of the medication guide that comes with the medication I give my son . I read all the side effects and became at that very night I was to give the medication to him very scared but I was told by Dr. Adams that it would control his asthma. The next day I tried to get in touch with my doctor but was talked to by his nurse and assured the medication was safe. My son at the time also had an upper sinus infection and was put on Prednisone and Zyrtec for his allergies, Nasonex, and also Omnicef which is an antibiotic for 20 days.
Even one day after taking the medicine, my son was sleeping and started sweating really bad that night and he had tremors in his legs and his arms and his heart was racing . As I watched my son sleep even on that second night of taking Advair, I put my head to his chest and would listen to his heartbeat cause now I was worried . His heartbeat was regular at first then when I listened more his heartbeat actually would skip a beat every now and then and his body would shake when it started to beat normal again .
I called the doctor two days after he was on the medicine and he assured me it was the Prednisone my son was on and not the Advair and I told the doctor about the tremors and he also said it was the other medicine . Then I asked the doctor about all the information in the medicine guide that came with the medicine that was conducted in 2006 a few years ago and all the side affects and all he said was that Advair was the safest on the market at this time and that the study in the report was a horribly conducted study and that usually people were dying not cause of the Advair but the Salmeterol being used alone and not a bronchioldialator used to treat both symptoms . It has been four weeks, one month since my son has been using Advair and he is off the other medications he was taking for his sinus infection. These are his symptoms after he takes the medication. About one hour after he take his medication he is very hyper, nervous, his heart is racing a mile a minute without even running around, he is sweating, he can not sit still for one minute and he has muscle spasms. At night when he goes to sleep his whole body shakes as though in a convulsion and I have even had to be there with him to calm him down. He has bad leg shakes and his arms shake and every single night since he has taken this medication he has sweated so badly that it soaks the pillow through and the pillowcase down to the mattress. He had been running fevers at night for five nights now . I was told this medication was safe but when I look at my son his eyes are glassy all the time and he is just not the same and he does not seem happy with all these tremors he has with this medicine . If anyone is reading this please print these pages out and take to a lawyer so we can all get money from the makers of Advair because I'm sure like me we were all told this medication was safe and not harmful . I am calling my sons asthma specialist and telling him to take him off this medication immediately as I had requested before and he told me it wasn't wise because it was controlling his asthma . How can a medication control asthma symptoms that will cause a person to die from taking it and cause them worse symptoms when they try to get off of it?

I've had a case of Asthmatic Bronchitis for the last two months. Doctor prescribed the Z-pack (2 Rounds) and a ProAir inhaler (Albuterol). After 1 month of this I felt better...but still not 100%.

Then he gave me the wretched Advair. I took one puff...and 15 minutes later was in the emergency room. I completely couldn't breathe...lost all color in my face...heart was racing...nervousness...tremors...chills...etc. I took a couple puffs off the Albuterol and that helped open the airways so the ambulance ride wasn't necessary. But the ER visit was still necessary.

They gave me a nebulizer treatment and 60mg of Prednisone and after an about 2 hours I was released. Now today...exactly 12 hours later I have the dry mouth, hoarseness, and leg cramps others have mentioned. Hoping this will clear up soon...I mean common I only took 1 puff!

Long and short...stay away from this medication at all costs! Something must be wrong if so many people are having these types of effects.

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?

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.

I took Lisinopril for about a year. My first symptom was a dry hacking cough. As time went on, the cough got worse. I coughed day and night, to the point that it would make me throw up. I did not realize that it was caused by the meds. I started having allergic reactions (rash and swelling of my face) at any time I went outside to work in the yard. There is some poison ivy around here, and I thought that I was getting into it. The doctor gave me prednizone for the allergy. It got so bad that she gave me a prescription of 100 pills to keep on hand. The last time, my lips got hard then started swelling. My face swelled up and I had trouble swallowing. My doctor was out and I had to see someone else. He looked at me and at my list of medications and just said that it was the lisinopril. I stopped taking it 6 months ago and have had no trouble since. Other than the cough that started after a couple of months, I had no side effects for probably 9 months. I just want to caution people that the side effects can start at any time, not just when you start taking the medication.

My 73 year old Mother has been on prednizone since Sept 2006, the reason is she's being treated for temporal artritis. It has stopped the headaches but has set her disbetes out of control. She now has to monitor her blood sugar every 2 hours. If I had known the side effects of prednisone first, I would have asked about other options.

I was diagnose with rhumatoid arthritus recently. the joint pain was very severe in my shoulder and my wrists and fingers. My feet felt like big round balls and i could barely walk. My rhumatologist had just started me on plaquinil but it was having no effect. after complaing about my symptoms that had been going on and getting worse for about 2 weeks he put me on prednisone 30mg a day 10mg tabs. I noticed improvement right a way and have been on the drug for 1 month. today i feel great. and am not experiencing any side affects at this time. The dosage has been prescribed to ween me off the prednisone. hopefully it will work.

I orignally started taking 25 mg for chronic hives after a roller coaster w/any thing containing blue dye, prednizone, allegra, claritan. Finally I stopped taking all colored meds only white or pale. I have a lot of wgt gain since this ordeal started in Nov. I did not know Doxepin could cause wgt gain. I am now taking 50 mg at night for insomnia and it does have an antihystamine in it. I think I am going to cut back to 25 mg again and get off this. One Dr. told me anything with antihystames are a wgt gainer. I also take Zoloft in the a.m. which helps okay and Doxepin can also be used for that but mainly helps me sleep and gain wgt :-)

I have been taking it for a severe allegectic reaction to who knows what. Broke out in red seepy rash. It seems everytime I take it I have trouble breathing for most of the day. Than goodness today was my last dose.Has anyone else had this problem? JC

I have been taking singulair for about 6 months and I am a type II diabetic. I began to notice that after eating lunch each day my blood sugar would spike about 2 hrs after eating. I have stopped taking the med and for the last two days I have not had any problems with blood sugar. I was on prednizone for about 10 months and had the same problems, so I do reconize the signs of elevated blood sugar.

I was put on Zyrtec along with prednizone for a major posion ivy break-out. I took it for about a week and a half, 10mgs, and after i stopped taking it, ive broke out with acne. Been off of it for about a week and still have acne. Im not likeing this cause i never had it before.

MY HUSBAND WAS RETAINING ALOT OF WATER IN HIS LEGS AND VERY WEAK. THE DOCTOR HAD DONE A NUMBER OF TESTS ON HIM TO FIND OUT THAT HE HAS NEPHRITIS AND WAS LOSING 8,500 MG OF PROTEIN IN URINE A DAY (NORMAL IS 100-200 MG PER DAY), AND COLESTEROL WAS AT 400. HE WAS PUT ON PREDNIZONE AND ALSO HAD A KIDNEY BIOPSY. WE WERE MARRIED 1 WEEK PROIR TO HIM BEING PUT ON PREDNIZONE AND IT HAS BEEN PRETTY TOUGH TO DEAL WITH. HE WOULD COMPLAIN OF ALL THE SAME SYMPTONS, WEAKNESS, BACK PAIN, NAUSEA, BLACK OUTS, MAJOR WEIGHT GAIN, AND CRAMPS THAT WOULD KNOCK HIM ON THE GROUND. I NEVER REALIZED PREDNIZONE WAS SO BAD. I FEEL ALOT OF GUILT BECAUSE I WOULD SAY OH, IT CAN'T BE THAT BAD. I FEEL HORRIBLE NOW READING ALL OF THE OTHER COMPLAINTS. HE HAS ABOUT 1 MONTH TO GO WITH 60 MG OF PREDNIZONE A DAY AND WATER PILLS.

I have several as I was on prednizone for about 8 years almost every day..Im 54 and have had cataract surgery on both eyes at the ages of 42 and 46. I have swelling of the genitals that tend to stay with me for weeks at a time,tremendous muscle aches, as well as tiny sores that appear randomly on my body and hurt terribly.Ive had the thinning of the skin due to steroid cream use, its been and still is a constant thing with me. I still have the terrible itching and watering of the eczema that leads to these areas eventually bleeding. I would appreciate any help with finding a specialist that deals with steroid side effects.. Thanks ! Jeff

Dosage of Prednizone was only 40 mg once a day for 3 days, and tappered off everly 3 days down to one tablet. This was prescribed for needed LUNG EXPANSION DUE TO BREATHING PROBLEMS. The following side effects manifested; I felt like superwomen the second day, thought this stuff is magic...however, by the third morning, Thrush infection appeared in my throat and mouth, had extreme, sharp pains when swallowing, dizziness, general weakness from the Thrush like early flu - this Thrush looks like white spots or white coating & SPREADS WITHOUT THE AIDE OF anti-fungal mouth tablet to irradicate. IMMUNE SYSTEMS WEAKENED BY PREDNIZONE. Insomnia also experienced to the point of only three hrs. sleep a night. I stopped taking the predizone immediately and continued the anti-fungal mouth table of clotrimazole (10 mg) to clear up the Thrush infection and finally got back to normal. No more for me!!!!

I have been diagnosed with Autoimmune Hapatitis and put on a low dosage of Prednizone. 20mg a day for 2 weeks, 15mg a day for 2 weeks and then 10mg a day for an unspecified asmount of time. I have been on the drug for 2 weeks and have just begun to feel side affects mentioned by others. Primarily night sweats accompanied by uncontrolable shaking, pain in lower joints and pain at the base of the neck. Has anyone else with Autoimmune Hepatitis been put on prednizone and what side affects have been experienced. I am alos on Azathioprine (generic ofr Imuran). Apparently even low doses of prednizonee can produce the symptome others have described.