PredniSONE and mom

Started with a Pred pak for a sinus infection. Made my heart race and had tach and early heartbeat, which kept me from sleeping. Went to Cardiologist. Several doctors denied that the Pred would cause the rapid heartbeat. Then the Cardiologist did an echo and found a pericardial effusion and some weird spots on my lungs. They suspected lung cancer which may cause the effusion, so I had surgery to do a pericardial window and a lung biopsy. Then a pulmonologist decided to put me on Pred again...steady dosage...because she didn't know what else to do. (Didn't have lung cancer) I didn't have any more funny heartbeats, so maybe the pred didn't cause it after all. But I've gained 40 pounds. My hair has grown faster, and I've gotten some facial hair (not supposed to have that, being a female)...which I call fur. Moon face with cheeks that are hard, muscle cramps, can't sleep, but once I do go to sleep, I can't wake up. Tired all the time, headaches, joint pain-sometimes severe, dry skin, generally bad attitude, with very little patience, low potassium levels which add to my muscle cramping problems, difficulty swallowing, indigestion which I've never had, with painful and burning reflux. And occasionally when I eat, I have the rapid heartbeat again. I go in search of food like I'm going to store it in my thighs for winter. Anything you eat will turn to fat, including protein. Can't wait to get off this stuff which will take until June of next year. Then my doctor says it will be 3 months before all these effects wear off. No one told me I would get fur.

My friend's mom who was in great health took this stuff and got osteoporosis and diabetes, became depressed, and then she died.

Reading some of the other side effects (after posting my most recent side effects) has made me think back a long time to when I was about 10 or so, and my asthma had been acting up- I was given a sort-of high dose of prednisone. For about two-six months after taking it, I had really severe knee pain, sometimes where I couldn't even walk around the grocery store. Eventually, it went away, and I distinctly remember my mom asking my doctor a few years later if it could be the cause (too high a dose and no weaning off), and the doctor said it was possible. Sometimes, I will have general knee pain for no specific reason, but luckily it doesn't happen very often.

Hi I am a 44 year old asthma patient. I have had asthma since the age 2 and have been on & off prednisone since that time. As a child until age 20 I was on predinsone daily. My question is has anyone experienced nerve problems due to long time use? I do have muscle weakness and spasms, but I am interested in if anyone has had nerve problems. Please email me at ****** and refer to prednisone.

hi everyone, i'm a 36 y.o. male and have been on and off of prednisone for 25 yrs. my experience has always been more positive than negative with taking this drug. it has helped me to breath better and has made me to feel extra healthy and even physically stronger. but i have my suspicions about this drug also. it has given me a false since of good health and i feel like i want to keep taking it just to feel better. i have only taken the drug after an asthma attack for about 5-7 days. early on the only side effect was increased appetite and occasional insomnia. but the last time i took this drug the doctor increased the milligrams and a VERY UNUSUAL side effect occurred that never happened before. I HAD HALLUCINATIONS! i have never had these side effects before and on the leaflet of possible side effects that came from the pharmacist for the very first time i saw hallucinations listed as a possible side effect. the hallucinations were damn near demonic in nature. the experience went like this... i woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and on my way to the bathroom i passed my dresser mirror and in the mirror was writing on the mirror in a mist! just like it would be when you get out of the shower and take your finger and write on the mirror. THERE WERE LEGIBLE WORDS ON MY MIRROR! mind you this is in my bedroom and the shower was off! at that point i refused to read what i saw in the mirror! it was weird enough what i saw i didn't need to read it. i refused to be fearful at that point cause i realized i was hallucinating and not getting a haunting. when i woke up later i went back to the mirror and of course no writing in the mirror. IF THERE IS ANYONE WHO HAS EXPERIENCED THIS PLEASE TELL ME YOUR STORY PERSONALLY! MY EMAIL IS ******! i would like to know that i'm not alone in this. to make it easier for me to see your response please type prednisone in the subject box on the email cause i receive a ton of emails and spam. and i would really like to hear other stories and experiences of taking this drug with very weird side effects!

This is an evil drug, far more dangerous than most illegal drugs. It ruined my life. I wish I had never been put on it. It was the first drug I, a teenager, was put on, having just been diagnosed with my disease.

I hadn't tried other drugs or other treatments; medical guidelines, I know now, say not to use this drug unless the disease is both severe and other treatments have failed. Well, I hadn't tried other treatments yet, so I shouldn't have been put on this drug. And yet the doctor I was assigned, Dr. Anne Sullivan at the University of Iowa's hospital, thought I needed to be on it, told me it was safe, that it didn't have any side effects, and that I would be completely healthy again in a few weeks.

If I had been told about the side effects, as doctors are supposed to do, according to both legal and medical standards, if my doctor had honestly answered my questions about side effects, I never would've taken it. And I'd advise others to never take this terrible drug. I would rather die than take this drug again.

It did nothing for my disease, but it did give me quite a few side effects, some which, according to the doctors I've subsequently went to, are permanent and long-lasting and there's nothing you can do about them; they're just permanent.

People don't talk about the psychological effects of steroids, but they should; they're serious. And, no, they don't just go away when you stop taking the drug. If the drug makes you bipolar, you're not just going to just go back to being you're regular self. Bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, these things don't just go away on their own.

I had no problem with mental illness before taking this drug, and yet I'm still severely depressed to this day, part of that, perhaps, is from what the drug did to me, that is, the physical side effects, but part of, I suspect, is just that it changed my personality, like it changed my brain chemistry.

Go here-******to learn about the psychiatric effects of prednisone.

Excerpts:

"Although a powerful therapeutic option, corticosteroids are associated with serious adverse effects, both physiologic and psychiatric. While the somatic adverse effects of corticosteroid therapy (Table 1) have been extensively researched and widely described, the neuropsychiatric adverse effects have received less attention."

"In our literature review, we found that the potential psychiatric adverse effects of corticosteroids span a symptom spectrum from subtle mood changes to full-blown affective syndromes and frank psychosis."

"The most commonly reported corticosteroid-induced psychiatric disturbances are affective, including mania, depression, or mixed states."

"Cognitive deficits, particularly declarative or verbal memory deficits, have been well documented during both long- and short-term corticosteroid therapy."

"More severe cognitive impairment consistent with delirium or dementia has also been described."

"In a case-control study of 20 patients receiving long-term low-dose corticosteroid therapy (prednisone, 7.5 mg/d for >6 months) and 14 volunteers with similar illnesses who were not receiving corticosteroid therapy, Bolanos et al9 found a 60% lifetime risk of corticosteroid-induced mood or anxiety disorder."

"The corticosteroid dosage is the most important risk factor for the development of psychiatric symptoms."

"Psychiatric disturbances can occur at any point during corticosteroid treatment, including almost immediately after initiation and even after cessation of treatment."

"Corticosteroid-induced psychiatric disturbances are common and include mania, depression, psychotic or mixed affective states, cognitive deficits, and minor psychiatric disturbances (irritability, insomnia, anxiety, labile mood)."

"It is important that clinicians in all specialties become aware of the potential psychiatric adverse effects associated with corticosteroids and explain these effects to their patients."

"Which patients will experience corticosteroid-induced psychiatric disturbances cannot be predicted. Dosage is the most important risk factor for the development of adverse effects, with patients receiving less than 40 mg/d at minimal risk, those taking 40 to 80 mg/d at moderate risk, and patients receiving more than 80 mg/d at high risk. Most patients will develop symptoms during the first week of treatment, and more than 90% will develop symptoms by 6 weeks."

Side effects: mixed bipolar disorder/manic-depression, suicidal ideation, cystic acne, scars on my face, panic attacks, severe anxiety, rage, euphoria, sadness, impulsiveness, confusion, memory loss, hard to concentrate and remember, thin skin, delayed healing ability, bruises, premature aging, rapid heart beat, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, higher cholesterol, thyroid disease, sweating all over, itching all over, joint pain, increased appetite, massive weight gain, stretch marks, hormones out of balance now, dry eyes, so dry my eyelids stick to my eyes, so dry I can't wear contacts any more, permanent red eyes, blurry vision, vision worsened, eye pain, eyes sensitive to light, migraines, and yellow skin.

My husband was stung by a wasp. He had a major reaction of hives and fainting spells. Naturally we went to emergency where the doctor prescribed.. you guessed it.. PREDNISONE !! sigh. He was told to take it only the next morning of his attack as the prednisone would make him too irritable to sleep. He woke up the next morning and all his rash was gone and he was feeling like a million bucks. NO more side effects from the wasp sting. We were always wondering WHY he needed to take prednisone for a wasp sting but wanting to listen to our knowledgeable and GOOD doctors, my husband took the prednisone. He was told to take 10 5mg pills in one shot, therefore, 50 mg. per day and then eventually wean himself off. Well, he took but the first 10 and within the 1/2 hour he developed an even greater reaction to hives than the day before. He became very agitated and moody... We drove back to the hosp. only to see the same doctor who'd tell us that he didn't HAVE to take the prednison if he didn't want to and that he was SURE that the prednisone had not caused this latest and worse reaction !!
For crying out loud. This is the year 2008. Couldn't the doctor have told us ahead of time that if the symptoms disappeared before even filling in the prescription ( which is what happened in this case ), THAT He should never have taken any drug? Prednisone is a killer. I know.. My mom DIED because of this darn drug only to find out that they were treating her for a disease that she probably didn't have after years of using PREDNISONE. These poor older people think that the doctors are GOD and that they have to listen to their every word. My husband, on the other hand, has thrown the drug away after just ONE USE. PLEASE, people, find other doctors and solutions and get second opinions.

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?

Prednisone is a catabolic steroid, not anabolic which increases muscle, so people should know that continued use over time will literally break down and destroy muscle tissue. Without muscle, a person has no way of even standing more than a few seconds and could suffer many falls.....these falls are worse on the prednisone patient because prednisone also effects bone density and multiple disc fractures can result, leaving the person wheelchair bound.

How do I know? That's what happened to my mom. Also, if you are in a nursing home and contact scabies, forget about ever getting rid of them prednisone supresses the immune system so it can't kill them off, even with all the meds and treatments out there for scabies. Again, my mom.

Hello,

I am writing for my mother who has been taking prednisone for the last 2-3 months. She was prescribed prednisone for kidney failure. Well I don't think I can possibly name all the side effects she has had but I will try. She has experienced the moon face, contracted diabetes, loss of muscle coordination, vision imparment, insomnia, loss of appetite, purple rashes throughout her body, muscle pain, fainting, and the latest which was the worst of all, she is in the hospital because the doctors are saying she had a mild infarct(heart attack) my mom is no longer the person I knew, I also have a feeling that the doctor who prescribed it to her, overdosed her with 6 pills a day, I feel he should have started her with a much lower dose. My mom never had any of the above problems before. If you are going through something similar you will be in my prayers.

Hi my name is Angie i was 15 at the time and a only child from a single parent when my mom was put on 60mg of prednisone because she was diagnosed with a blood disorder called ITP(idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) she had been hospitalised for about 2 weeks and then was released but still was on the prednisone as time went by my mom had to stop working, she gained about 100 pounds on a very small framed body,her hair grew very fast, tremendous stretch marks, mood swings, just about everything on the list. She was to have a Splenectomy on Sept 13 2005 she had her surgery and it went perfect and was shortly released. 1 week after surgery she was having very severe hip pains, we took her to the hospital and she had X-rays and all sorts of tests done but nothing was found so she was sent home with pain meds. 2day later she was taken back to the hospital the pain had gotten worse, while at the hospital she had been told she had a fractured pelvis and was put on bed rest and given MORE pain meds. The doctor had mixed the 2 medications given and they counteracted eachother.During the 3 days she was home she had overdosed on pain meds because they counteracted eachother. On Sept 27 she had a meeting with her surgon and was admitted to the hospital for a drug over dose and broken pelvis. She had a bone scan and the doctors found she had also 3 broken ribs a broken tail bone and a bone infection. HOW? you may ask.... because the prednisone made her bones very weak and the weight she gain, her body collapsed on itself. My mom put herself into a coma for 2 weeks and was in the ICU for 3 weeks. She is now awaiting surgery because her hip is collapsing because of Avascular Necrosis she is bed ridden and is very heavily sedated...my mom hasnt been home in over 4 months I just wanted to tell my story in hope that people will listen and that no one will have to go through this just as I am.