PredniSONE and losing my mind

I started prednisone last week because of an allergic reaction I had to I dunno what (yet). I started with a solumedrol shot, followed 12 hrs later by a kenalog shot, followed 12 hrs after that by oral prednisone q 24 hrs. The 'fog' is fucking horrible; I can't think straight. I'm at the end of a medic class and have finals this weekend - and I'm scared that I'll be in the middle of a fog during the exams and will fail miserably.

It's unlike anything else I've experienced. It's not a drunk or stoned feeling, it's literally like I've lost cognitive ability and cannot process information. For instance: I wanted to make some tea and forgot how to turn on the kettle.

Does anyone else experience wild mood swings? I'm not normally a tearful person, but the past few days have seen me crying uncontrollably for no reason whatsoever - and this morning, I started laughing whilst I was crying and just couldn't stop. My family think I'm losing my mind, and were I not taking prednisone, monteluklast and fexofenadine I'd agree with them. As it is, I feel somewhat reassured that it's the medications that are causing these symptoms, but holy cats, is it ever weird to feel this way.

I feel so bad for you folks who are faced with the prospect of long-term cortico-steroid therapy. If any of you would like to talk, please contact me at ****** .

Good luck, y'all!

Hello.

I was started on Prednisone on Saturday (3/15) for Bronchitis. So far I have taken 40mg, 40mg, 30mg, 30mg, 20mg, - I am to take 20mg for two more days than 10mg for three days. I also just finished a Z-Pack of antibiotics and am taking Mucinex and Ventolin HFA...

I have head pressure, dizziness, and weird visual disturbances. The problem I am having is my breathing feels WORSE on the Prednisone??? Is this possible??? I feel like I am losing my mind. I have insomnia and am extremely jittery. I have never taken Prednisone before - but want so badly to breath better - but it is not helping and in fact seems to making the problem worse?

Has this every happened to anyone? Please help I am so frightened.....

Thank you

I agree, for me this is a horrible drug! This is the 2nd time my allergist prescribed it to me (last time was this past summer and I had severe panic attacks and thought I was losing my mind) this resulted in me returning back to my GP and him putting me back on Paxil (which I had been off of for a year). I was extremely reluctant to use this again but thought i might be able to manage it this time (with the help of Paxil).

My allergist prescribed Prednisone to me 2 weeks ago (5mg 3x's day for 3 days then, 2 2x's day then 1 for 5 days) I made up until the last 3 pills. I had severe brain fog and felt like I was floating through space. I couldn't even remember driving to work and parking my car! Extremely fatigued (I have diabetes (which is under control, but I had to keep checking my bg because I thought my sugar was dropping to low). Now, within the last week of taking the Prednisone I have experienced aching in my kidneys and I think I have a kidney infection.

Can Prednisone do this to you??

I am calling the doctor tomorrow. Today is the first day without Prednisone and I feel like I am totally out of it - really spaced out, dizzy, panicky and a bit nausea.

How long does it take for you to get Prednisone out of your system?

Addendum here to my orginal post.....dated
November 2th
2007
1:34 AM
New side effects and sufferings!!
I am at 4 mgs A Day now... In fact, I have been at 4 mgs a day for four days... (reducing by 1 mg every seven days)
I feel like I am (my brain) is dying/melting away slowly...by increments daily. It seems to get a little worse every day in fact. I dare not rest or sleep during the day. Every time I do, I wake up with complete brain fog! Actually, the brain fog comes and gets to me every morning by 9 am anyway and I feel like I'm losing my mind all morning until about 2pm when it starts clearing up a bit!!....Its scarey for me to go thru everyday here! What can I do? There's no one to help me!!??

I tried to split the dose I need to take (maybe three mg in the morning and 1 mg in the afternoon) and was unable to do so because of frightening heart palpitations, nausea and dizziness this morning. I thought I was dying because my body felt like it had been beaten with a meat tenderizer all night long . (flu-like symptoms~ I wanted to die and lay there, completely exhausted until I forced myself out of my bed.)
Every day its the same thing. A NIGHTMARE that I am unable to wake up from!!
I am fairly quiet all afternoon and then all evening long until about 11 pm. I Look and 'act' completely normal in spite of symptoms boiling barely under the surface. Then the 'hot-flashes' start around 11 pm. Then, By say 0330 am the chills and cold sweats join in with the hot flashes until about 0630 am. Around that time, my head feels like its expanding from the inside like a huge balloon thats going to pop....and I feel like I can't breathe....then the 'antsiness' begins and I feel like I am vibrating all over inside like a million ants are crawling all over just under my skin and skull! Then 'That Pacing Thing' and horrible Severe Brain Fog starts up and I am unable to sit or lay down! I *must walk/pace all over the house and/or outside....for hours and hours on end ~until about noon hour when I can calm down and the cycle starts all over again. THIS is what this damned Prednisone has done to me since it was prescribed Sept 14th 2007 !! There's no guarentee that this behavior pattern will stop once I am off the drug completely either!! I feel like I am getting sicker and sicker by the day here. Anyone else out there have anything even remotely like this ?? and then get better after they stopped the prednisone?? HELP! :o(

Hello EveryOne out there...OK OK....

Now Why have I been out of touch since Sept 14th.... 2007???

I have been VERY VERY ill.....

Y'See, I went to see this new Doctor (Quack) for continued pain in my chest (sternum) area....that I have been having trouble with all Summer. (Severe Costochondritis/Fibromyalgia) By Sept 14th, this Quack who claims to be a Doctor had given me this prescription for Prednisone pills (20 mg each)....with orders to take mega doses of this toxic poison in order to combat the pain I was suffering. I was so desperate to get out of pain that I went ahead and filled the prescription and started taking the pills that eventful Friday night. I made the fatal mistake of trusting this Doctor!!!

If I had any sense God gave green apples I would have researched this a little before taking this medicine!! I would have run like all heck in the opposite direction!

I had been taking these reccomended large doses for approx two weeks back then per Doctor 'Quack's' order.... I have been hooked after the first week....and now currently desperately trying to get off of it with only marginal success!!

I have been on this Prednisone crap for some 49 days, currently and desperately trying to get off of it....with terrible side effects!! I have experienced every side effect known to the Devil himself and even discovered some new ones that I never knew was possible!? Case in point! I can't sleep night after night without terrible withdrawals all night long!!! I am forced to contend with them every night here. Not to mention I fight the withdrawals all days long too. I have this inept doctor and I am sorry I even went to him in the first place...!

The withdrawals I am now getting are harder to deal with than the original chest pain itself!!! Not to mention even eating the so-called 'wrong' foods sets off even more withdrawals almost immediately. I am now extremely sensitive to light and the sun~ not to mention.....noise....and stress....

I am much sicker from this Quack Doctor's so-called "HELP" than I ever was before....

I don't mind saying his name and trying to steer everyone away from this jerk Doctor here in Las Vegas who takes advantage of people in pain when they are desperate by feeding them toxic poisons and passing the poison off as something harmless thats gonna help them??? Just ask me who he is and I will tell you. I have no qualms about it....

Bottom line is I have spent this last month trying to get off this crap and I just found out that the withdrawals may bother me up to a YEAR after I take my last dose of this crap poison!! I have been going thru H***!!! A nightmare I would LOVE to pass onto this Quack who pretends to be a doctor!

I am down to about 7.5 mg per day now from about 180 mg that he gave me originally Sept 14 2007. Believe me this was not easy thing for me to do. I went "Toxic" on this drug weeks ago and it has affected my ability to process, think and reason properly. I feel like part of my mind is now missing or went on permanent vacation!! Dizziness,feeling like I'm gonna pass out, Brain Fog and Mass Confusion is the order for the day~depending on the time of day???

"The side effects of prednisone include adrenal suppression, which can occur with periods of prednisone use to surpass seven days. Adrenal suppression refers to the body’s inability to synthesize natural corticosteroids, resulting in a dependency on the prednisone taken by the patient. This is why doctors do not recommend the cessation of prednisone when the patient has taken it for longer than seven days. They reduce the dose gradually over a few days in the case of short-term prednisone use, and over weeks or months in the case of long-term treatment. Stopping prednisone treatment abruptly can cause the life-threatening Addison’s disease, in which in the body no longer produces sufficient amounts of adrenal steroid hormones"

I want to SUE this Doctor for making me this sick!!!!!

SDR

GRRRRRRRRRrrrrr!!!!!!!

Has anyone experienced numbness or a greasy type of sensation on your tounge while taking Prednisone?

I've been on Prednisone since February of this year. I started at 60mg/day and am currently weaing from 40mg/day to 20mg/day. For awhile I thought I was losing my mind. First I will say I am on this medication after being diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. The Prednisone has decreased the number and size of granulomas in my lungs making breathing a lot easier and has also gotten rid of most of the chronic pain I was in. I used to wake up barely able to drag myself out of bed. Here is a list of my side effects: increased appetite, indigestion, nervousness/restlessness, dizziness, flushing of facial and neck skin, burping, SWEATING, mental confusion - inability to think clearly, memory loss, tinnitus, irritability, mood swings, muscle cramping in legs and arms/fingers, weight gain, sodium/fluid retention, increased hair growth on facial areas. I had daily headaches for awhile but those seem to have dissapated to infrequent headaches. I'm grateful for this drug for what it's done for me but the side effects are making me feel I'm going insane.

In the last month I was prescribed prednesone when I had went to the doctor after I breathed in some chemicals and my lungs hurt. My first side effect was feeling like I was losing my mind and I was having trouble thinking. I went to the doctor that had prescribed my 3 days of Prednesone and he did blood tests last week. My cholesterol tested high and something called alk phos is high. Are these temporary side effects? I hope so.

i am so glad i found this site. i thought i was losing my mind,i have and am having almost all side affects listed. starting at the top and working down i will list the affects it has had on me:headaches, neck pain, eyesight blurriness, lump on back of my neck,shoulder pain, stomach pain, hip pain, muscle weakness, racing pulse, feeling of anxiety,skin tenderness,unable to process thoughts and sentences,mood swings, severe sweating,the feeling of having a hangover. these are not all of them but had i known what this drug could do to your body i would have never agreed to the injections. most days i feel like dying. i never sleep it seems. and iam so tired of the way i am having to live. cannot work, or do the things i would normally do. thanks for listening
tami

Glad to read some of the experiences of others. Now I don't feel so worried. I have never experienced such nasty side effects. I am now off the Prednisone and feel the come-down is as bad as being on the drug. Most of the time I feel numb in my muscles. A drunk feeling without the booze. While on the drug, I experienced terrible sleeping troubles, emoitional highs and lows and extreme hunger, 24/7. Today, I a very sore in my neck and shoulder region. The shaking and tweeking were bad too. As well as the disconnected feeling of not being able to complete sentences or thoughts. I feel as if i have been losing my mind. One bit of advise, I wouldn't work out extrememly hard while on Prednisone. Walking is fine but anything highly aerobic, like kick boxing or jogging feels like you're in cardiac arrest.