PredniSONE and severe depression

I agree that this drug is of evil. My mother was treated for 3 years on and off long term use for Wegener's Disease. She just tapered off her last dose, the docs are telling her she is done with it, thank the good Lord. She has told her doctor of all of her symptoms, manic episodes, severe depression, hallucinations and just recently the doctor suggested that it "may" be steroid psychosis. My mother inquired if there was some meds that could help b/c over time, it just seemed to get worse. She told her that she wasn't getting enough prednisone to cause this. Wasn't getting enough...when she was first diagnosed, she was given 3000 mg b/c she was near death, after that, each follow-up consisted of 40 plus mg, and I am talking 2 to 3 month stretches...but she wasn't getting enough to cause steroid psychosis??? My mother came to me one day and asked me not to leave my 3 year old daughter with her alone ever and of course I asked why. She told me that she had thoughts of harming those around her, that they would actually play out in her head. Through my tears, I asked my mother if she followed through with these thoughts, would that give her some relief, and she replied yes. At this point, I know it is bad. I have found a site that lists treatments for steroid psychosis and plan on not stopping until a physician agrees to help us. My prayers are with everyone that is experiencing these horrible drug interactions and side effects.

Thank you so much for your website. I cannot begin to tell you what this drug has done to ruin my life.

I had been on it for over 4 years on a misdiagnoses (Never should have been on it) and was told
“It was no worse than Tylenol.” Ok I thought as I was suffering from a few swollen joints every
now and then but was fine otherwise.

Then one day I was working and someone noticed my face was swelling. I looked in the mirror and
low and behold my face was rubbing my glasses. I asked my doctor and he said “it will go away soon.”
I am very athletic so I continued to run and work out as I slowly went from a 30” waist to a 50” inch waist!!
People at my office thought I was on a food binge like no other. My wife was stunned on how fast this
happened as was my family. Now the problem had gotten much worse. Constant body aches and swollen ankles.
After a year I went from jogging, to walking, to using a cane to using a walker…how sad my family felt
for me and no friends insight. my company then laid me off as I used the walls as a walker and simply could
“perform up to par.”

Next came the extremely high sugar, blood pressure, Glaucoma and I suddenly noticed I was having problems
seeing. Went to the eye doctor and was told I was getting cataracts but it would take a couple of years to form.
90 days later I could not drive and could barely see in both eyes, now I was almost blind.
Now 80lbs overweight almost blind with Glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes and cataracts. not to mention severe depression and mood swings that were unbearable, and yes still using a walker from severe muscle pain.

Well the time came where I lost my health insurance and was unemployed. I was out of Prednisone
one day and called my doctor. He said come in for $320.00. I said I didn’t have it and pleaded for them to call
in a 30 day supply, I was told that they “weren’t a charity” and “go to the emergency room” click!! My wonderful
doc was gone. Well I went to the emergency room the next day and was told “they don’t give refills.” I had been
off prednisone for a day and as some people know if you stop that high of dose for that long you may die from
adrenal crisis. So I stood in the emergency room for 12 hours waiting to go into this crisis! Finally a nurse convinced
a doctor to see me for 30 seconds, gave me a refill and a list of welfare clinics and booted me out the door. They
hated my appearance and hated me for no cash.

One day I decided to end this nonsense and tread everything I could from sources I hadn’t read that were very old
regarding what was wrong with me. I went on self imposed diet of 1000 calories a day and lost 60 lbs…yes!!
I stated weaning from the Prednisone and took a ton of supplements I had read about. I got down to 7.5mg every
other day. Yes, suffering tremendous total body aches, severe mood swings, dizziness, severe hunger and
confusion but I plowed though. By the way I don’t recommend this but I couldn’t get a refill for a prescription from anyone
because I ‘had made to much money.” So I turned to the Internet for everything. I bought 500 5mgs for $23.00 screw the doctors I don’t need their prescriptions. I am now totally off for 6 weeks I do have some bad stiffness, muscle aches and mood swings but after 4 years of pure hell I am truly thankful to be off this dangerous drug, it ruined my life.

So I went to a new Doctor finally and my diagnoses was a food allergy and simply had a small stint of bursitis a total mis- diagnoses from my first Doctor! Doctors aren’t gods so take it from me trust yourself first and do your research.

My prayers to all who suffer from this drug. Damn the incompetent doctors who wrongly prescribe it!

Dan

PS Does anyone know how long these severe body aches last after completely stopping. Its been 6 weeks and its just a little better. My doctor told me to fight it out or get back on pred. NO WAY!!

Thank you so much for your website. I cannot begin to tell you what this drug has done to ruin my life.

I had been on it for over 4 years on a misdiagnoses (Never should have been on it) and was told
“It was no worse than Tylenol.” Ok I thought as I was suffering from a few swollen joints every
now and then but was fine otherwise.

Then one day I was working and someone noticed my face was swelling. I looked in the mirror and
low and behold my face was rubbing my glasses. I asked my doctor and he said “it will go away soon.”
I am very athletic so I continued to run and work out as I slowly went from a 30” waist to a 50” inch waist!!
People at my office thought I was on a food binge like no other. My wife was stunned on how fast this
happened as was my family. Now the problem had gotten much worse. Constant body aches and swollen ankles.
After a year I went from jogging, to walking, to using a cane to using a walker…how sad my family felt
for me and no friends insight. my company then laid me off as I used the walls as a walker and simply could
“perform up to par.”

Next came the extremely high sugar, blood pressure, Glaucoma and I suddenly noticed I was having problems
seeing. Went to the eye doctor and was told I was getting cataracts but it would take a couple of years to form.
90 days later I could not drive and could barely see in both eyes, now I was almost blind.
Now 80lbs overweight almost blind with Glaucoma, high blood pressure, diabetes and cataracts. not to mention severe depression and mood swings that were unbearable, and yes still using a walker from severe muscle pain.

Well the time came where I lost my health insurance and was unemployed. I was out of Prednisone
one day and called my doctor. He said come in for $320.00. I said I didn’t have it and pleaded for them to call
in a 30 day supply, I was told that they “weren’t a charity” and “go to the emergency room” click!! My wonderful
doc was gone. Well I went to the emergency room the next day and was told “they don’t give refills.” I had been
off prednisone for a day and as some people know if you stop that high of dose for that long you may die from
adrenal crisis. So I stood in the emergency room for 12 hours waiting to go into this crisis! Finally a nurse convinced
a doctor to see me for 30 seconds, gave me a refill and a list of welfare clinics and booted me out the door. They
hated my appearance and hated me for no cash.

One day I decided to end this nonsense and tread everything I could from sources I hadn’t read that were very old
regarding what was wrong with me. I went on self imposed diet of 1000 calories a day and lost 60 lbs…yes!!
I stated weaning from the Prednisone and took a ton of supplements I had read about. I got down to 7.5mg every
other day. Yes, suffering tremendous total body aches, severe mood swings, dizziness, severe hunger and
confusion but I plowed though. By the way I don’t recommend this but I couldn’t get a refill for a prescription from anyone
because I ‘had made to much money.” So I turned to the Internet for everything. I bought 500 5mgs for $23.00 screw the doctors I don’t need their prescriptions. I am now totally off for 6 weeks I do have some bad stiffness, muscle aches and mood swings but after 4 years of pure hell I am truly thankful to be off this dangerous drug, it ruined my life.

So I went to a new Doctor finally and my diagnoses was a food allergy and simply had a small stint of bursitis a total mis- diagnoses from my first Doctor! Doctors aren’t gods so take it from me trust yourself first and do your research.

My prayers to all who suffer from this drug. Damn the incompetent doctors who wrongly prescribe it!

Dan V

My boyfriend was put on prednisone for an allergic reaction to an antibiotic. He did fine while taking the medicine for three weeks. They did taper the meds. He has been done taking it for a little over a week now. He is irrational and moody. He is easy to irritate. I am scared of him and I left him this morning. He was so out of control last night I could not get him to calm down. Luckily I did not get hurt but there is no way I will go back to that house. There is such a thing as roids rage and it's awful!!!! DO NOT TAKE THIS MEDICINE!!! EVER!!!!

My husband has solumedrol IVs for 4 days-500mg every 8 hours due to a MS flare-He could not walk at all before he had the IVs. Now he is home and has used predisone to wean off the IVs. He has diabetes now with severe depression and he is in a fog a lot. I understand this is basically the only way he got through the MS flare, but now he is worse off due to the side effects. It is a shame that so many people have been hurt by this medicine that is suppose to help. My ex husband was so violent when he was on predisone for back pain that it caused us to end up divorcing because he would beat the crap out of me or become so mean, then depressed that it drove us apart after 20+ years of marriage.

Hello, I was put on Prednisone for 12 days and made it through 11. It's been about 11 days since I've taken it and I'm still having symptoms. I have such bad anxiety and depression, mostly after dinner. My heart rate and blood pressure shoot up, and I have to pee every 15 mins. I had gone to the ER on the last day I was on it because I was having evil thoughts and crying uncontrollably. They told me it was probably steroidal psychosis and sent me to a shrink who now has me on Ativan until the Paxil she also prescribed me kicks in. Does ANYONE know how long this drug will be in my system? I took a tappered 12-day dose starting at 60mg. This drug may save lives, but it's really put hard times in mine. Any response is*****

I was diagnosed with Acute Interstitial Pneumonitis back in April/May after a 26 day stay in ICU. I was on 500 mgs. of prednisone by IV and then was gradually reduced to 60 mg. a day orally. Since that time my dr. continued the reduction and I am now on 10mgs. every other day. The side effects have been very trying. I have experienced bone loss, severe acne, moon face, great hunger causing weight gain (60lbs.), occular hypertension, and now severe depression. Also muscle aches and joint pain. I really want off of this drug, but cannot seem to get there due to fluctuations in pulmonary function tests. I know that this drug saved my life, but now I can't seem to handle the side effects much longer!

I had been on 60mgs of prednisone for a month and a half for ITP. Initially it brought my counts up slightly but they crashed back to where they were when I started after a month of the treatment. I did my research, and demanded I be given anti-D treatment (win-rho). My hematologist (blood vampire) gave me it and it brought my counts up considerably. Three weeks later they fell and he won't let me be weaned off the prednisone saying that its jepordizing my counts. The prednisone did not work for me, dropping as it did while on such a high dose. He says he won't advise me to go off the drug nor will he write me a perscription for a tapering dose. I go to a clinic because I'm a poor 23 year old that just graduated from college. This drug has made my life a living nightmare. The first two weeks it gave me severe depression and I did not eat. Gave me horrible mood swings, killer fatigue, joint pain, double vision, skin and acne problems, nasty taste in my mouth, muscle weakness, fat distribution on my stomach, waggy skin, etc. I am so ashamed of my body. I got edema all in one place my stomach one night and I could barely breathe and my heart was pumping so hard. It stretched out my stomach permanently and gave me stretch marks. I have gained 17 lbs dispite following a strict diet - I went off sugar and watched my salt and carb intake. My idiot of a doctor won't let me get off this drug from hell. I am so miserable and depressed. I basically threw any chance away of growing into a healthy person when I am older, I think. I think that because of this drug I am facing irrepairable damage. I am not even married or have children and yet who knows what damage it is doing to my reproductive system. If I knew what I knew now, I would never put that drug in my body, or I would have never even seen anybody for my disease, I would rather bleed to death. This drug should be taken off the market. It's handed out like it is candy. If I was just given the safest treatment for my disorder (anti-d) and seen that it worked then I would have never had to gone through this. But preds are nice and cheap let's give it to a 23 year old and ruin her life. What do they care what it does to me? They ignore me, even after telling them it made me suicidal. I feel like a shell of a person and haven't been myself since. I'll either have to find another doctor or taper myself off which I hear isn't too good since I'm on 20mg pills and can't accurately measure a taper. I'm lookin foward to premature aging with prednisone.

Wow! I've just read through this whole horrible list with relief. Relief that every single symptom I had catalogued for my former neurologist, and was informed was all 'in my head' or 'just depression' is listed here by other people who were on much lower doses than I was. I am 41, have MG, am 5 years post-thymectomy on 300mg daily Immuran, 60mg Q/4 Mestinon, and prednisone of 15mg for break-through symptoms. My highest dosage of prednisone was 90mg every other day for 18 months, before being tapered down to 60mg for another year. Between the MG and the prednisone I have gaines 60 pounds in 5 years and have had deliriously bad experiences trying to get it off at Weight Watchers (forget them if you have a non-diebetic medical problem unless you enjoy emotional flogging). My quirky, upbeat personality vanished after 3 months at 90mg. doses, and odd sweating, fragmented sleep patterns, bloated face, crying jags and clinical depression set in. Neurologist said it wasn't drug related. I became suicidal (hello! I am a former university professor, a real people person, funny, bright, just trying to get this recently diagnosed MG under control) and finally checked myself into a psych ward because I knew something was so, so wrong with me. Much blood work, and many therapy groups later I've discovered that I was at toxic levels! That such high sustained dosages can actually cause psychotic 'breaks' (no, I didn't have one, just severe depression). It never occured to my Neurologist that I probably needed anti-depressives to counteract the poison he was pouring into me. Am now a patient at the MD Clinic at U of C Hospitals, which specialize in MG, and are looking for an alternative (like my recent IV/IG) treatments for breakthrough symptoms. Don't get me wrong, prednison is the BEST, BAD drug at Walgreens, but if you start to get mood swings and need to take this long-term, (or chronically) GET BACK TO YOUR DOCTOR right away and let him/her know that you need mood stablizing medication. If you are living with a chronic disease you need to direct you own 'quality of life' care, and for better or worse, prednisone is a drug that many of us cannot function without.