Hi everyone, I am a 25 year old female who was diagnosed with ...

Hi
Thankyou for sharing about Prednisone and letting people know that side affects do leave. I feel like one of those puff fish. I've been quite ill taking prednisone for Giant Cell. They were not sure if I had it but it causes blindness so I was told to take it. I've been on it for one year but I am not better so they think it was a misdiagnosis. I still have severe head pain and aching eyes but don't know what it is. Whenever I'm afraid I start taking int again and when I start to feel better wean myself off it. The doctors say I can. thankyou for your informative posting.

I know prednisone is a very evil med. I also have Crohn's Disease. I have had it for 15 years. It is not a fun disease to deal with either. I take it you were so bad that you had to take the pred. I know there are other meds out there that are being used also other than prednisone, (it's called entocort), it is a steroid but it has ALOT less side effects to it. BUT depending on where you Crohn's is at & how severe it is of whether you could take it or not. Good luck & I hope you feel better.

Thank you for posting your experiences. I have been on Pred. since August '07 thanks to ulcerative colitis. I am a 44 year old mother of two teenagers and an 8th grade English teacher. I just had my entire lower intestine/colon removed on March 19th and am now tapering off the Pred. I am at 5 mg, after being as high as 60 mg. They have had me reduce by 5 mg per week since March 29, the day I was discharged from the hospital. I have experienced almost all of the same side effects as you have mentioned and hope I never have to take this med. again. I have gained 40 lbs, but worse than that are the weird changes to my body, including the buffalo hump, moon face, sideburns, fat on my back, and the painful joints and muscle spasms/"charlie horses," just to name a FEW. I too had the night sweats that I would wake up soaking wet! Anyhow, I appreciate your posting so that I know what others have experienced with this drug. Doctors don't seem very sympathetic when it comes to the side effects, and the tapering process. This includes my Primary Care Dr, my Gastro/Int Dr,, my rheumatologist, and my GI surgeon at the Lahey Clinic in Boston. No one ever warned me that all of these side effects could happen when they started me on Pred. I am supposed to drop from 5 mg to ZERO Pred next week, and am a little scared of the withdrawal symptoms. I wonder how long it will take to start to feel "normal" again.
Good luck and God Bless to all those that come across these posts and have had to deal with Prednizone side effects.

i am with you 100 percent. i have bee diagnosed with chronic urticaria it is a unknown allergy. i brake out with hives. i have been on predinsone for 8 months i was 123lbs and now i am 155 in 2weeks. i have exsperinced terrible night sweats my body and cloths be soaked from head to toe i. i have to change cloths throughout the night. i also have a big moon face my hand ansd feet swells. also any hard pressure to my body would either wape me up or brake me out. my skin is so tight that when i bend down my skin feels like it is bust. i hate pred but it is the only thing that would prevent me dfrom brakin out. benadryle does not work for me so believe me you are not alone.

I have had sarcoidosis for over 10 years and have been on and off prednisone over that time. I've just gone off it to see what happens (the third time I've tried to do it--the disease recurs without prednisone generally).The dosage you were on is astonishing! 240mg in a day! I was on 35mg for a while and it had really bad mood side affects (mainly anger being easily provoked). I have been put on methatrexate which is a steroid sparing agent and although not overly pleasant (interacts v badly with alcohol) is a lot better than prednisone. But the choice becomes what is worse-the disease or the cure? Invariably the disease causes the damage so we have to put up with the cure. But I would look into substitutes for prednisone and on the weight front, well it's a matter of taking matters into your own hands and exercising and dieting. Yes it's a bore but it's better than not doing it.
Good luck!
Bruce