Prednisone side effects??

[Ashleigh K.]

Hi! I'm currently on prednisone (30mg once a day, halving the dose tomorrow)
And i find its giving me some really annoying side effects

The most prominent is weight gain, I've been constantly hungry over the past few days (currently craving yogurt lol) however the prednisone makes food taste really funny so I try not to eat too much because it just doesn't taste nice
I'm also getting really bad acne and a "moon face" yikes

I also find that i have trouble sleeping, which with AA is never helpful. Even if i do get to sleep its for max 4 hours maybe??
I also reckon its affecting my mood because last night i woke up about 4am in a fit of uncontrollable crying which is something thats never happened before

What would be the best way to tackle the sleeplessness and weight gain apart from the slow taper??

[triumphe64]

Those are all very common.

I recommend you take it in the morning. Then you will be awake when you want. I was told that is the normal time your body makes it.

[GoodDay5150]

Hi Ashleigh. AA is pretty hard to go through, as you know. I was on prednisone for a while after having my transplant, and I'm pretty sure that I took mine in the morning. I rem having some weight gain, swollen ankles from it, as well as sweating. I don't rem my sense of taste being effected, but I was taking a lot of meds at that time in addition to the prednisone. Prednisone and some of the other meds that you are taking, and or may take in the future will have side effects that can't be avoided. Good luck in your treatment.

Mario

[rar]

I was on 120 mg. prednosine. I was getting very little sleep. I took the half the dose at night. I switched all the pred in the morning. A half hour before sleep time I took 1.5 mg melatonin and 1.5 mg generic lunesta. That greatly helped the sleep problem. On the few occasions when I couldn't get to sleep 5 mg oxycodone put me out.

I never get hungry, I went for 3 months without eating solid food and did not get hungry and lost 40 pounds. The last 6 weeks I was on TPN. The pred caused me to loose weight, about 15 pounds in a month. I started eating 5 full meals a day and in a month was able to put the weight back on. A lot of food tasted bad, even chocolate. I had a lot of eggs, yogurt and ice cream. Waist gained 3 inches even as the weight went down. Face got real puffy.

Don't despair. I am down to 5 mg pred and most of the symptoms have improved. I will likely be on it forever.

Ray

[PaulS]

Prednisone is a great and terrible medication. After getting some GVHD I was on about 160 mg prednisone - quickly tapered to 50 - and then on fifty for a couple few weeks - gradually tapering - I'm now on alternating doses of 10/20 mg and the plan is to keep tapering as long as the gvhd is relatively under control.

When I was on 50 and a bit less - I was ravenously hungry all the time - particularly craved onion flavors potato chips - which was bad because my potassium was also high -

prednisone also made me diabetic (taking insulin) high blood pressure (on meds for that) and made my muscles wither - also bloated red face, which may be partly gvhd.

I took in the morning and slept best I could - sometimes taking ambient or ativan - Eventually I gave up, and just tried to enjoy the awake time - extra snack at night an a big cup of coffee and big breakfast somewhere between 4 and 6 am. I particularly enjoyed the quiet morning time and would listen to music, read and do email. Not altogether bad - sometimes I'd fall back asleep around 9.

As I taper I'm less hungry, gaining muscle, blood pressure under control and diabetes improving - I'm really looking forward to getting off the stuff.

I was on 10mg daily for a couple of years prior to my BMT - to treat an autoimmune skin condition probably associated with mds - but the side effects weren't nearly as bad as with the higher doses.

Hope you can taper as soon as possible and the side effects go away.

Al the best,
Paul

[Ashleigh K.]

Thanks for all the info!
I do normally take my prednisone in the morning (around 9am) so there's that!

But another thing I've noticed is that it is painful to breathe, especially right now (its like 2:30am)
I did tell the doctors about this while I was in hospital having ATG and they did a chest x-ray which apparently was fine (i didn't actually see the x-ray though) so idk
But its strange, its not hard to breathe i can breathe fine but it just hurts??
I'm going to the young persons unit for bloods today anyway so I'll probably ask about it.

[bailie]

I was on 160 mg/day. I had a good appetite but didn't sleep well. I did get diabetes that was wild. I was on insulin and my glucose levels ranged from 550 down to the 40s a couple of times. The diabetes went away after the taper. Doctors were surprised that I had no mental effects from the prednisone. I tried a lot of combinations for sleep. Nothing seemed to work well.

[Hopeful]

I highly recommend the book "Coping with Prednisone" by Eugenia Zukerman and Julie Ingelfinger, MD for any one on high dose or long-term prednisone therapy.

It lays out what to expect with this "necessary evil" and has excellent suggestions on how to mitigate some of the nasty side effects.

It has been a while since I read it, but one thing I remember is that you want to eat a very low salt diet.

[johnwc]

Prednisone is a deal with the devil!!!
I'm surprised your oncologist or pharmacist didn't tell you of these common side effects.
I have ambien, Kolonopin, ativan, and pot at my disposal for sleep. If I don't do something, I'll hover all night. I'm down to 10mg and will continue to reduce over the next months.

It's a nasty medicine. Ask my wife