PredniSONE and steroid

My 12-year old son has been high dose prednisone for his asthma flare ups. I know that the "moon face" is common. However, since using this prednisone, he has bad acne breakouts on his forehead, cheeks, chin and even in his head. He also has broken out in a rash on his neck. Common or uncommon? There seems to be nothing to help with the acne, either.

After my father's office was flooded by an AC backup at his workplace in June 2006, and as a result mold grew in the carpeting & walls. He got very, very sick & his doctor put him on Prednisone for almost a year. No local doctor nor specialist told us of the dangers of being on a steroid for more than a few weeks. My father kept getting sicker & sicker until one day in March of 2007 we had to rush him to the ER. There his doctor arrived, put MORE prednisone directly into his veins and as my father grew weaker & sicker we knew we had to get him out of there. We took him to Shands in Gainesville and they immediatly began their magic. It took a good week or so to undo the immediate damage that Prednisone had done to my father. It took until this month (October) until his liver & vital organs started working properly again and reached safe levels. In fact, he's still being carefully monitored by his Shands doctor to ensure his body will continue healing itself. His new doctor told me that if we hadn't taken my dad to Shands that day, he would absolutely be dead. Prednisone is a very lethal, dangerous drug if perscribed for more than a few weeks at most! Please, if your doctor wants you to take this steroid any longer than that, go see another doctor immediatly! It will save your life.

I'm a 37 year old female and have severe asthma and allergies and have used pregnisone on and off for 30 years. I believe I am the poster child for the long term side effects. My immune system is shot to the point that my normal medicines for asthma (ventolin, advair) and allergies (tylenol sinus, claritan, visine A) and ezcema (elidel, hydrocortisone, etc. - - NOTHING works!

In the past 6 months, I have developed various infections that the doctors have not been able to identify. My eyes are swollen and red with large amount of white/yellow secretions. Vaginal secretions. Face swollen. Skilled covered in a rash with ezcema out of control. Sharp pains in my back and stomach. Constant asthma. Abnormal hair growth. It is to the point that it is impossible to function and each doctor just wants to prescribe more pregnisone. I feel as if my body is a walking time bomb and it is so full of all the cortisone from over the years and has just decided no more.

I admit that I too readily believed in the doctors when they would rapidly prescribe the pregnisone. Only now am I paying attention to the long term side effects.

Has anyone had tests done to test their immune system and other organs for damage? Thanks and best to our pregnisone club.

I must add my recent experience with Prednisone to this forum:

I have been suffering from constant lower back pain and a torn shoulder injury (rotator cuff) for the last several years. A week ago I got a slight case of Poison Ivy. My doctor gave me Prednisone - starting at 60 mgs. a day, tapering down to 10 over 12 days. I was unsure as to whether I wanted to be on a steroid , especially after reading some of the testimonies here at this forum. But I went ahead and took it. I must say this has been one of the most amazing experiences for me.
Not only did my Poison Ivy immediately begin to go away, but lo and behold, practically ALL my back pain and shoulder pain went away. I also found myself with this amazing positive mental attitude. I began to get up and enjoy my job everyday (normally I am somewhat depressed and stressed out). It was such a major change for the better - I feel like I have been living the resurrection!! Yet I know it is only due to absence of pain and increased energy brought on by the Prednisone. I feel like a happier, younger version of myself. Prednisone has even helped me sleep better! So, evidently, for some people, prednisone is a wonder-drug.
I did note a very slight manic edge at times, but never unmanageable and always very positive. As soon as I decrease the dose, the pain and inflammation in my back and shoulder starts to return. What a shame that this drug causes osteoporosis and other long-term affects. I wish I could stay on it forever!!

I have had a severe case of polymyalgia rheumatica and was initially put on 60 mg of prednisone a day. It was wonderful! Within hours my pain level dropped almost in half. From there the pain has gradually improved even more. I went to 40 mg per day to 20 mg per day to 15 mg per day. Have been on the 15 mg for 2 months now and want off as soon as possible. Yes, I too have the moon face, camel hump, slight weight gain, nausea, digestive problems, cramps, depression, etc. Not fun! My question is - does anyone experience burning/stinging in their face, arms and legs from the prednisone? I wonder if it is the polymyalgia rheumatica or if this is a side effect from the steroid. Thanks for your comments.

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.

Hi, I was on Prednisone for a little over a month for Crohn's disease. I had minor side effects while taking it: couldn't sleep, no patience, dehydrated, dry eyes. It is the side effects from AFTER stopping prednisone that concern me. I''ve been off Prednisone for 3 weeks and I think I am losing my hair and getting acne-that I didn't have before or during taking Prednisone. Anyone experience side effects that started after stopping the med?

I was dianosed with an immune disorder of the inner eye. It was advanced enough that regular treatments were not effective. So the dr. started me at 60 mg of prednisone and started to taper it off at 20 mg. every 2 weeks. At 6 weeks, it was observed that my symptoms had reappeared and so he started back at 60 and the tapering was much, much slower (50 mg, 40 mg 30 mg 25 mg 20 mg 15 mg 10 mg 7.5 mg 5 mg 2.5mg) the first week I had panic attacks and wanted to physically attack people. I couldn't sleep. After that I had mood swings, fuzziness, forgetfulness and confusion, all I wanted to do was lay on the couch. I had heart palpitations, moon face (people thought that I'd had dental surgury) went from a size 6 to a size 12. I had terrible yeast infections, and wanted lots of fluid and had frequent urination. It was horrible. By the time I was done (and I had withdrawel symptoms long after I stopped taking it) I'd lost 2 years to the side effects. I do get to keep my eyesight. Fair trade, I suppose. In the next year and a half I lost weight down to a size 2, not as good as it sounds, all my muscle tone had gone and I'm having to rebuild from being nearly skeletal. The worst part of it is.. at any time I can be put back on prednisone and will probably choose to over losing my sight. At what point does one have to worry about osteoporosis? How much prednisone for how long effects the bones? There are things I'd like to do, but I'm not sure if I should.

I was just diagnosed with Crohns 7 days ago. They started me on 125 mg of Prednisone for 2 days over IV and now 60 mg a day. So 20 mg 3 times daily. I'm severely tired but I think that is just from being in the hospital for 2 weeks and not being able to sleep and I am just now getting home. The main problem is after I started the steroid I have all this white stuff in my mouth. Like the plaque you get on your tongue but it is all over my tonsils, cheeks, back of my throat and my mouth feels really raw. I cant eat because everything burns. The GI siad to gargle with mouth wash but nothing is working. Is the thrush from the high dose of steroids? or because now I have no immune system so I have a yeast infection in my mouth??? Any help would be great. Has anyone notice rapid weight gain with in the first couple of days of being on th ehigh dose????

Hello everyone!

Just let me start by saying thank you to everyone who is writing in about the side effects of Prednisone.

I was put in the hospital for an ear infection which rapidly turned into a swollen inflamed ear which was 4 times it's normal size. I was placed on an IV of antibiotics and Darvoset for the pain. The swelling in my ear diminished and after5 days i was released from the hospital. I went home and noticed my head was slightly off as i was having some vertigo and nausea. I notified my doctor during my follow up from my release and she gave me some mecclazine and a asked that i stay on the antibiotics (Doxycylcine & Levaquin). The most confusing part to me was that the doctor never had anything to culture as far as what caused te original ear infection. She nevere visited me while in the hospital bed as i felt she should and since she never had a complete picture as to what caused the infection i felt she may have been just inadvertantly prescribing the biotics as a precaution.

Now the fun starts for me. Every evening during my stay and after my release my ear would feel flush and semi hot and i would wake up in the morning drenched in sweat as though my body was fighting something. I have a feeeling (but cant prove it) that i was given a steroid through IV while in the hospital. After explaining to the specialist assigned to my case that i was having this type of trouble, she immediately prescribed Prednisone on a 12 day decreased dosage plan.

Since taking it i have had increased swelling in my neck, face and at the back of my neck like others have mentioned. I am also irritable and moody (depressed). I am a very happy person normally and i am struggling to stay calm and cool but finding it difficult to keep things in check at times. I also am having trouble speaking on the phone. This makes it hard for me to perform customer service on the telephone.
There is a swollen part of my neck( almost like a lump near my gland which has gradually gotten more pronounced since the hospital stay). I am not sure if this is a possible side effect from the Prednisone either.

Anyway - the ENT specialist has decided i have Relapsing Perichondritis (Polychondritis) which may or may not be true. How does one go from an ear ache to this?

Can anyone shed some light on what they think may be happening?

Sorry for rambling.. i do this when i am nervous... another side effect. :(

Tom -44 yr old male.

I have been on 60 mg of Prednisone since Oct. for FOcal Segmental Glomuruli Sclerosis. I think Ihave had every side effect you can imagine. I have gained over 50 lbs, I cannot sleep, I have steroid induced - insulin dependent - diabetes, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, hair loss, strech marks on my stomach, legs and under arms. I hae horrible mood swings, and joint pain. And to top it all off - the disease I was trying to fight is still here and all this seems as if it were for nothing. I am finally being slowly backed down off the steroids - but my dr. says it will be May before I am completly off.

To guest 14703,

When it comes to psychological and emotional matters, it is difficult to come up with one absolute answer. The steroid's psychological side-effects can take a toll on anyone at any time, any dose or any stage. The way people deal with the side-effects depends a great deal on a person's mental history, personality traits and inner strength.
For me, although I was taking a high dose of 100 mg a day for 3 months and so on for 6 months, I never became manic, schizophrenic or had suicidal thoughts. However, I did become a little depressed due to things I had no control over, like the abrupt weight-gain, the ugly triple chin, hunched-back, hair-loss, lack of sleep or concentration, aches in my muscles and stomach, lack of support or understanding from my partner (the list is endless!).
The physical as well as the emotional changes go together hand in hand. All I wanted to do was to get off the horrible drug and be drug free. One good thing out of this nightmare was that I learned to take better care of body, mind and soul.

Gypsi

To 14642,

First of all, I want to tell you that you must be a very sweet man. My boyfriend never even care to do research about Prednisone to understand what I was going through. I had to do the research myself and explain to him the side-effects so that he could understand me, aweful! But the positive outcome was that I educated myself about my treatment and that helped me to be tough.
To answer your question, it is said that for every month one is on Pred., add 1 month to it. For example, your wife is on Pred. for 1 month, then it'll take 2 months to get close to be normal again, including the weight gain. I was on Prednisone for 4 months and had just completed my 8th month steroid-free life, and let me tell you I am back to be myself again! Good luck to both of you. Hope this helped you!

Gypsi

I was given 20mg tablets of prednisone for 5 days due to a strange alleregic reaction to cold medicine. I ve been taking it for 3 days and since Ive had break thru bleeding and my vision is so blurred I cant make out the speedlimit signs on the road. Beacause of the upper resperitory bug and 2 allergic reactions and now feeling the side effects of the steroid I am clueless on what is going on and what I should do. If any one out there has had blurred vision and bleeding while takin this medicine please let me know I will be okay.

I have been on prednison since l980. I was told I had steroid dependent asthma. I briefly had moon face. I was very organized. I even typed my honey do list for my spouse. I was "driven" to get tasks done. I had difficulty sleeping, muscle cramps, frequent night time urination. easily bruised on my forearms when I bumped into things, lots of 3 corner skin tears and recently had a bone density test and now I have to take Boniva. I did not gain weight. Over the last two years I went from 140 to 120. I did experience two very serious illnesses (Throtoxic with Thyroid Storm and a spinal tumor and surgery.) I finally weaned off about 3 weeks ago. I went from 10 to 5 to 2.5 to 1.25 then 1.25 every other day - very slowly. No asthma symptoms yet. At this time I fatigue very easily. I have lost subcutaneous fat in my forearms, feet and face. I still have some muscle cramps in my feet and somethings deep in legs. I am sleeping much better. I am wondering if the loss of fat has anything to do with the long term use of prednisone. Has anyone experienced or heard of this connection to Prednisone?

10-24-05 I would like to tell what prednisone does for me. I have attack of throwing up and Diahrea at the same time. At first I didn,t know what was doing it, so I weened myself off of the steroid and it stopped. Then I WAITED FOR ABOUT 9 MONTHS TO TRY IT AGAIN AND IT HAPPEN ALL OVER AGAIN. OFF THE STUFF FOR GOOD.

i have been on this drug for 8 months for my ashma . before this i would be on it maybe 6 times a tear for a week or so but i am now steroid dependent and cant live without thse . my klfe has changed so much be cause of these steroids . i went from a very confident person to someone who cant look in the mirror at myself. i have deperession , and fly off the handle cant sleep and my skin is transperent and bruid=ses so easily . i at my lowest ebb because of these drugs.

To trailblazen,

Your low blood pressure seems to be a definite side-effect of Prednisone withdrawal. When I came off of Pred, I not only felt super weak but I also experienced body tingling, especially in my legs and arms.....bad, bad!
I hope to God you are not quitting cold turkey, don't ever do that! Your doctor should be lowering your doses slowly by 5 mgs a week or so. In your case, stopping the intake of this Steroid all the sudden could be quite dangerous because you have been on it for a looooong period of time. If your doctor reduced you dose little by little you should not worry about your withdraw effects. Stay calm and keep an optimistic attitude. It took me 2 months before I started feeling normal again! Hope this helped you ;)
Gypsi

I've been taking prednisone for about a 2 weeks, due t oa severe case of poison oak, and even within this short amount of time i have noticed several side effects the steroid has had on my body. Some of which would be deppression, insomnia, weight gain, and appetite increase. When ever i was in a sad sittuation, my emmotions seemed magnified, as if one of my friends had just died. The insomnia has occured several times, though notably only when i workout a few hours before bed. in the first 5 days of using prednisone, i gained about 6.5 pounds! and i noticed that i needed an exessive amount of liquid throughout the day.

i have a rare form of asthma and am often on high doses of intravenous steroids in the hospital. i get every symptom anyone has noted but I actually steroid induced psychosis (i have no mental health problems generally). I have horrifying visual and auditory hallucinatins.

at National Jewish Hospital they treated this with 1o mg valium with each dose of steroids and Depacote. I can't take Depacote any more because of pancreatic symptoms and the valiun alone helps but doesn't resolve the problem.

Plus I lose my vision almost completely. All the other typical symptoms seem more severe (accordinf to my MD's) than usually experienced so apparently you can be extra sensitive to steroids, i have been tried on Prednisone, Mthylprednisone and Dekadron,

Plus, I have had steroid induced myopathy (where the muscles are eaten away) to the pint of not being able to sit or walk.

I have lost 2 inches of height in 2 years.

and worse of all, my brain seems to just take a vacation - i have amnesia for almost everything that happens.

But breathe first - deal with the rest as it comes.

As far as weight - i have gained 28 lbs in 24 hours (the hospital nurse checked me with three scales) and have lost 39 lbs in 2 weeks -trust me - that is not a pretty sight.

I have had insomnia from November through Feb with psychiatrist doing everything they could to put me under.

If I didn't have a lung disease and was not prohibited from doing almost everything there is to do, I could while on Prednisone clean my entire house cleaner than it has ever been, and then probably achieve world peace because I have never felt so capable of accomplishing tasks (ones that are rote mostly) my family has to watch me to keep me from getting up in the middle of the night and doing something stupid.

And I am a health care professional who usually has excellent judgement. I am a nice person who never loses my temper or says an ugly word but while on steroids I am not only totally unreasonable but verbally abusive at times (many times)

the psychosis thought is the one thing that is really terrifying.

I was on prednisone from 1998 - 2000 for a kidney disease. At one point I was taking 120 mg a day for 5 weeks. It stopped the progression of my disease my. They slowly weaned me down to 10 mg a day. I went from 155 lbs to 215 lbs. in about 2 months, but I ate less. It was like being "fat." It was like being filled with air. My face looked awful. When I smiled, my eyes disappeared. After I went down to 90 mg, I was put on cytoxan (chemo), so not only was I huge, I was also bald (real attractive) Now, I am somewhat back to normal and my disease is in remission, not cured however. The only side effect that I have that is a life long reminder of my battle is these horrible stretch marks. I have several of them. They range in width from 3/4" to 2" and when they first started appearing it felt like I was being torn apart, and they would bleed. I have them on my sides, on my belly, and under my arms. I was not a large person before. But the excess skin makes me feel so self conscious. Does anyone else have "scars" this bad?

I've been on Prednisone for 5 months now for pyoderma gangrenosum (big ugly skin ulcers on the lower calf) and it has been the only effective treatment to stem the inflammation. I also underwent a steroid pulse therapy for 3 days taking 20x the typical daily, oral dose. Hospitalization was reguired for monitoring purposes. The etiology of PG is unknown and there appears to be a casual relationship with Crohn's. Fortunately I don't have Crohn's. The many side effects that have been mentioned I have and the mood swings and the lack of sleep are the most dreaded. I'm also on Methyltrexate and Humira in hope of getting off prednisone. Yes, like many of you, there's a love/hate relationship with this drug.

I have been taking prednisone for about 12 years now. I have ocular myasthemia gravis and all of a sudden I might have gotten diabetes because of the prednisone. My blood level was 134 after I had a soda and chicken sandwich (about 2 hoursafter). I'm going to my family doctor this friday and get another blood test without eating for 12 hours. If I have it so be it, but if I don't I will get off this drug when possible. To my knowledge, I was never told that prednisone could cause diabetes. This angers me very much because I was never told of the alternatives that I could take. I have never gone higher than 20mg. Some days I would take prednisone everyday and other days I would not. If I were you, I would consult your doctor immediately and look into safer drugs. Prednisone may be the best steroid or near there, but it also has its side effects. You have to ask yourself is it worth taking and risk yourself of another disease.

I was hospitalized in March of 2004 with pneumonia caused from household cleaning products. They put me on "mega doses of Prednisone" intraveneously. When I returned home I was taking 40 mg a day for approximately two weeks. I woke up one morning, unable to walk because my knees hurt so bad when I put pressure on my legs. I recently, after episodes of pain, weakness and inability to walk without crutches, have been diagnosed with osteonecrosis, death of bone tissue. I am confident in saying it was the Predisone that caused it. The moon face, weight gain, and muscle and joint pain was also a factor. The osteonecrosis is a lifetime disease. I cannot work or function in the way I did before being put on this steroid. I asked the doctor about side effects and he told me not to worry. If I had known I would have said no. I think this drug should be taken off the market. I will be effected negatively for the rest of my life now. I would have preferred to take my chance without the Prednisone to heal my pneumonia. I should have been informed and as I read this webpage about the side effects I believe many of us should have been told the many side effects and allowed to make a decision rather or not we wanted to take it. Quality of life is most important!