My doctor had me on prednisone for 6 weeks and it was 6 of the worst weeks of my life. The side effects are hell. And one of them was weight gain–about 15 lbs.
Having cursed prednisone, I will say it really DID do the job for which it was prescribed. But I hope I never have to take it again.
I finished it about a week ago. Will the extra weight come off by itself or am I going to have to diet to get it off? I hope not because I couldn’t eat much less than I do now; I’d really have to starve myself. Exercise isn’t much of an option because my current health.
Congrats on getting off of it. It’s a hellish med, capable of killing as it cures, damning as it saves. Yet it’s the exact right one for certain circumstances.
Fortunately you weren’t on it all that long, most side effects worsen with high doses and/or long durations.
Sadly you’ll need to work on losing the weight. Increase your activity as much as you can tolerate; just walking 20 minutes a day can have a major impact on re-setting your body’s glucocorticoid metabolism.
Qadgop, please tell me more about the long-term effects of prednisone. I take 5 mgs a day and have for almost 4 years. Have been told I will take it the rest of my life, as I have Addison’s Disease.
I haven’t been able to find out much about it, other than it speeds up the growth of cataracts and arthritis. Can you tell me more. Thanks!
Jayrey, that’s a pretty small dose. If you have to be on it for a lifetime, then it’s good that dose meets your needs. Make sure you get annual eye exams, regular tests for diabetes, and whatever else your doc feels you need to be on. But with Addison’s, you need it. You might ask your doctor if 10 mg every other day would be a consideration; some studies have shown doing it that way may reduce side-effects a bit more. Maybe not.
As for typical side-effects, from UpToDate, a paysite for medical professionals:
I’ve been on prednisone several times for short time periods. Like millions of others I’ve said it works wonders but the side effects can be terrible.
I have a sister on long-term corticorsteroid therapy and shortly after she found she would be on it probably for the rest of her life (the alternatives being “death” or “heart transplant”) she acquired the book Coping With Prednisone. Having read the book, and between my experience with short-term courses and her considerably longer course of the drug, there is useful information there. The authors don’t pretend you’re going to completely ameliorate all the downsides of the drug but do offer some coping strategies as well as information on what it does to the body both positive and negative. Anyone on long-term therapy of this sort might want to read the book.
I have invariably gained weight while on it, but I’ve always managed to take the weight off once I’m off it. The bummer is that the weight goes on really quick but takes a lot more time to come off.
I also get to “enjoy” nasty mood swings while on it, and in fact I always found that side effect more distressing than weight gain.
Absolutely, the times I took it I really did need it, and I don’t regret using it, but boy howdy is that a doubled-edged sword!
Take heart, some of the weight is water. I’ve been on prednisone only once. I was given a schedule, taking a different dose every day. I was as hungry as a bear coming out of hibernation, but I kept to my normal diet. I gained about 8 lbs, and lost it all in the first 5 days after stopping.
It is a hateful drug.
In theory, taking prednisone for Addison’s Disease (adrenal insufficiency) should lead to no side effects in that the prednisone is merely replacing what your own body would have otherwise made.
That said, your body doesn’t make one big blast of prednisone every morning and then no more until the next. Rather, it produces much smaller amounts much more frequently. This may explain why some people on low-dose prednisone, or people on prednisone for Addison’s, may still develop some side effects (especially things like thinning and bruising of the skin).
In terms of dosing every second day, the main benefit in doing so is that it may make it easier to get off the prednisone (i.e. the long inter-dose interval gives a bit of a kick to your own adrenal glands whereas people taking it every day never give their adrenal glands a chance to recover in that way). In any case, since Addison’s Disease is a life-long condition, there wouldn’t seem to be much gain in the practice of dosing every two days for people suffering from it.
Was on an immunosuppressive dose for ten days or so due to a laboratory error. While taking it I was vacationing in Assateague, camping. Had to urinate multiple times each night, which meant spraying DEET and running to the outhouse each time. Profound depression and confusion. It was horrible, and turned out to be totally unnecessary.
I was on Prednisone for several months for ulcerative colitis. It worked great, but I gained about 20 pounds. I waited for several more months to see if the weight would magically disappear. It did not. So I used my patented* “every other day” diet to lose it in a couple more months.
*It’s not really patented, at least not by me, but I did make it up. Before learning it was already a thing all over the internet.
My MIL was on it for many years and her skin became very thin and fragile. By the end a minor scrape would peel off several square inches of skin like wet tissue paper.
Thank you, Qadgop and Broomstick especially, for your replies. And, Dana Scully, I feel like I slightly hijacked your thread. For that, I apologize.:o
This information is very helpful to me and I will order *Coping with Prednisone *immediately. My experience with prednisone initially was quite different than those described in this thread, but that was probably because the Addison’s had been undiagnosed in me for almost 10 years. When I first started on prednisone, I lost almost 40 lbs in about five months and felt fabulous. All my joint pain went away and I felt 10 years younger. That lasted two years. Then gradually I gained back about 20 lbs, cataracts started showing up in my eyes, and the joint pain, especially in my back and knees, increased. Even with the extra 20 lbs, I’m not especially overweight (5’8", 170 lbs), so I don’t think my weight is an issue for my joints. No osteoporosis or diabetes, no increase in blood pressure (I’ve always had good, lowish blood pressure), but definitely mood swings, thin skin, easy bruising, changing thought patterns – not necessarily a bad thing – and trouble sleeping, which, along with constant pain, certainly contributes to general irritability.
Anyway, thanks again for the information. If anyone has more information about predinsone or, especially, living with Addison’s Disease, please share it. You can pm me if you wish. Information about Addison’s is astonishing hard to come by.
Sorry for resurrection a 6 month old Zombie, but I had to echo my experience. I had to take prednisone for poison ivy I got from my Christmas tree of all things (one dead vine clung to the trunk, which I didn’t discover until the rash had started). It was a horrible case (I’ve always been very sensitive), and after 3 weeks and a full scab/shed cycle of skin, it broke right back out worse than before. I had a secondary infection as well, and my skin all over, even areas that had no contact with the urushiol, were breaking out in itchy rashes.
Went to the doctor who gave me prednisone and an anitbiotic to kick the poison ivy’s butt and take care of the infection as well. I was on 60mg for 4 days, then tapered to 40mg for 4, 20 for 4 and 10 for 4.
As mentioned: It works really well (main poison ivy rash was gone in 4 days, with skin repair taking longer, but everything feeling great within about 7 days). And boy did it suck. Constantly feeling amped, ravenous hunger, headaches. I also had lower leg pain (almost like a numb throbbing) and major irritability (I was dreadfully short-tempered and mean to my wife and kids during the highest dose portion…not violent or anything, but prone to loud yelling outbursts and quick bouts of real anger…followed immediately by a recognition that I had massively overreacted and feeling horrible about it).
After stopping, I had joint pain for 2-3 days and finally felt back to my old self. I’ve been off it a week now. It worked, but I hope I never have to take it again.
Could one of docs explain some of these side effects in a bit more detail? Specifically those of “purpura” and “Cushingoid appearance”, I’m not familiar with these terms. Also, how does thinning of the skin actually happen? I’m having a hard time understanding that AE. Is tissue actually destroyed?
That lasted two years. Then gradually I gained back about 20 lbs, cataracts started showing up in my eyes, and the joint pain, especially in my back and knees, increased. Even with the extra 20 lbs, I’m not especially overweight (5’8", 170 lbs), so I don’t think my weight is an issue for my joints. No osteoporosis or diabetes, no increase in blood pressure (I’ve always had good, lowish blood pressure), but definitely mood swings, thin skin, easy bruising, changing thought patterns – not necessarily a bad thing – and trouble sleeping, which, along with constant pain, certainly contributes to general irritability.