Discussion
Hi all,
anyone here have experience of taking Prednisolene. Ive been having trouble for many years with arthritis in ankles and knees and about 6 months ago got prescribed this which seems to work brilliantly.
Im aware fo the risks with steroids and have only been using 10mg a day as and when required not regularly, to keep the twinges at bay, however I sem to be struggling with the weight side of things as well as recently I think its started having an effect on moods etc. I think im going to bin them and try to use something else, but curious to hear others first hand experience. thanks
anyone here have experience of taking Prednisolene. Ive been having trouble for many years with arthritis in ankles and knees and about 6 months ago got prescribed this which seems to work brilliantly.
Im aware fo the risks with steroids and have only been using 10mg a day as and when required not regularly, to keep the twinges at bay, however I sem to be struggling with the weight side of things as well as recently I think its started having an effect on moods etc. I think im going to bin them and try to use something else, but curious to hear others first hand experience. thanks
Been on them for five years. They can be a real b
d if you are taking high doses, usually a month or so of feeling fantastic followed by a pretty scary plummet into feeling bloody awful.
Obviously I can't comment on your particular health issues but I just try to keep the doses as low as I can. Consultant puts them up from time to time when my issue starts becoming a problem again but I go back to a maintenance dose as soon as I can.
Dose going up at the moment, not good.
I made a point early on of letting my friends/family/employees know that I might act a bit odd and to let me know if I did. This happened a few times and helped sometimes but others not, it's pretty strong stuff.
It's not all bad though, I live a pretty normal life on them, I think I wouldn't be here by now if they weren't around so chin up!
d if you are taking high doses, usually a month or so of feeling fantastic followed by a pretty scary plummet into feeling bloody awful. Obviously I can't comment on your particular health issues but I just try to keep the doses as low as I can. Consultant puts them up from time to time when my issue starts becoming a problem again but I go back to a maintenance dose as soon as I can.
Dose going up at the moment, not good.
I made a point early on of letting my friends/family/employees know that I might act a bit odd and to let me know if I did. This happened a few times and helped sometimes but others not, it's pretty strong stuff.
It's not all bad though, I live a pretty normal life on them, I think I wouldn't be here by now if they weren't around so chin up!
I've taken them on and off over the years for Crohn's - really hate being on them and see it as a bit of a last resort. Yes, they work but I found the "manic" feeling and the lack of being able to sleep, along with the increased appetite and weight gain very difficult to cope with.
Just to add - I was on a fairly high dose.
Just to add - I was on a fairly high dose.
tim2100 said:
10mg is a very low dose.
not such a low dose if you take it for a long time.1mg is a low dose, but they can all cause Cushing's Syndrome if not managed properly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing%27s_syndrome
Pulsed or interval steroids (Prednisolone) are less of a problem, but it's a powerful version of something your body makes in small amounts as part of a finely balanced system.
on sat and sunday I took the prescribed dose of 20mg, then yesterday was in a really foul mood, very unlike me and I found it very difficult to control emotion etc, awkward when driving o na long journey as I really had to hold back from flashing people, ranting about middle lane people etc. Stuff that normally just washes over me.
havent taken anything today and will try to avoid the things as much as possible.
havent taken anything today and will try to avoid the things as much as possible.
Eldest son was on a pretty high dose (can't remember how much, sorry, will ask Mrs SWH) for a while back in 2011, he was under 2yrs old at the time - they did work, in that they stopped his immune system from destroying all his red blood cells, but boy did they have some side effects.
Weight gain - very quickly, hard fat deposits on his stomach and he generally became quite bloated out, moon face the lot. Looking back at the photos it's pretty shocking actually.
Mood swings - terrible twos.. plus steroids... well, a friend (who's a doctor) implied the best approach was to literally sit on him when he was having what became known as a steriod-rage, shockingly bad to be honest; one of the most upsetting things I've had to deal with in fact, especially as you can't explain to a 2yr old exactly what's going on.
Eventually weaned off them using a new-ish treatment (Rituximab - and he had haemolytic anaemia, not leukemia thankfully), by halving the dose repeatedly, week after week, coupled with the treatment.
It sounds as though you're on a relatively low dose, and they do have a swift effect, another friend who had early onset arthritis has been on them for years; the main battles were the two above, for her and for SWH Jnr in fact; keeping on top of the weight gain was tricky and a constant battle, and the mood swings we're very hard to deal with, equally for a 20-30 something year old, as they were for a 2yr old.
There's a link in my profile to SWH Jnr's treatment, although that's not too much about steroids in general (lengthy and hard reading if you've got kids - I feel it needs a disclaimer...!).
My guess, and it's only that, is the aim would be to pop you on the current dose, then once it takes effect, to reduce gradually to a lower level, to the point where the symptoms don't come back/get worse.
Best of luck
Guessing you won't be the only person on here using these (I see one reply above already), so hopefully you'll get a few more points of view too.
Weight gain - very quickly, hard fat deposits on his stomach and he generally became quite bloated out, moon face the lot. Looking back at the photos it's pretty shocking actually.
Mood swings - terrible twos.. plus steroids... well, a friend (who's a doctor) implied the best approach was to literally sit on him when he was having what became known as a steriod-rage, shockingly bad to be honest; one of the most upsetting things I've had to deal with in fact, especially as you can't explain to a 2yr old exactly what's going on.
Eventually weaned off them using a new-ish treatment (Rituximab - and he had haemolytic anaemia, not leukemia thankfully), by halving the dose repeatedly, week after week, coupled with the treatment.
It sounds as though you're on a relatively low dose, and they do have a swift effect, another friend who had early onset arthritis has been on them for years; the main battles were the two above, for her and for SWH Jnr in fact; keeping on top of the weight gain was tricky and a constant battle, and the mood swings we're very hard to deal with, equally for a 20-30 something year old, as they were for a 2yr old.
There's a link in my profile to SWH Jnr's treatment, although that's not too much about steroids in general (lengthy and hard reading if you've got kids - I feel it needs a disclaimer...!).
My guess, and it's only that, is the aim would be to pop you on the current dose, then once it takes effect, to reduce gradually to a lower level, to the point where the symptoms don't come back/get worse.
Best of luck
Guessing you won't be the only person on here using these (I see one reply above already), so hopefully you'll get a few more points of view too.I was on a relatively high dose a few years back and had quite a few "symptoms" whilst on them. My face did swell slightly and become more rounded, I could eat like a horse and be hungry half an hour later and I had terrible acne on my forehead mainly. I also went through periods of feeling really hyper but I never really noticed being lower than normal.
I was on them on an IV for a few weeks aswell and the nurses also noticed that my face had swelled and that I had gotten acne.
The only thing that really bothered me were the spots as they itched something rotten but other than that they were ok.
I would make sure you speak to your doctor about coming off them as I'm sure you're supposed to be weened off them.
I was on them on an IV for a few weeks aswell and the nurses also noticed that my face had swelled and that I had gotten acne.
The only thing that really bothered me were the spots as they itched something rotten but other than that they were ok.
I would make sure you speak to your doctor about coming off them as I'm sure you're supposed to be weened off them.
whirligig said:
I've taken them on and off over the years for Crohn's - really hate being on them and see it as a bit of a last resort. Yes, they work but I found the "manic" feeling and the lack of being able to sleep, along with the increased appetite and weight gain very difficult to cope with.
Just to add - I was on a fairly high dose.
Have to agree, have Chrons myself and found I gained weight, skin got terrible and I was quite short with people- just snapped at everything. Was on 8 tablets per day and once I got to 3- chrons symptoms returned. Just to add - I was on a fairly high dose.
I had tons of energy but Due to lack of sleep, looked terrible!
Came off them after three months and took another 3 or 4 months to lose the weight and get rid of the oily, spotty skin
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