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2 year struggle to get off prednisone still hard to get from 3 to 2mg
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: May 15 9:20am | Replies (39)Comment receiving replies
"Then, doctors wrote on my med records that I had abused steroids."
That's a shame your doctor phrased it like that. My primary care doctor listed my prednisone use as a "medical problem." That was confusing because I didn't understand how the treatment for PMR could be the problem until very late in the game when I was diagnosed with secondary adrenal insufficiency. It was a low cortisol level that caused me to be unable to taper off prednisone.
I had a long list of medical problems after my rheumatologist prescribed "long term" Prednisone. At the very top of my medical problem list was "long term and current use of prednisone." Then my primary care doctor quantified long term with the word "decades." I wasn't aware that prednisone was a big problem until I was on prednisone for about 10 years. I then told my primary care doctor that it was my rheumatologist's fault for prescribing long term prednisone to me.
My ophthalmologist introduced me to prednisone originally. However, my opthalmologist only prescribed 60-100 mg and told me taper as instructed. My instructions were to taper off as soon as I could. My ophthalmologist was so pleased with my ability to taper off prednisone that he made a notation that I was "skilled with prednisone tapers." I only needed a month or two to taper off Prednisone when it was used to treat uveitis.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/uveitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20378734
My rheumatologist was the one who got me hooked on long term prednisone use for PMR. I was told that I wouldn't be able to taper off quickly and I would be on Prednisone for at least a year. It ended up being 12 years before I could taper off again.
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It's hard to forgive them for that, isn't it? How much time would it have cost them (probably paid for by your ins.) to make sure you understood what was needed, and the dangers. No one told me Prednisone usually makes women gain significant amounts of weight. My PCP did not even one time mention my weight gains to me, the whole time. That's what broke my feet. After steroid use softened my bones. Another side effect I wasn't aware of. I ended up with Glaucoma in both eyes. It was my Eye doctor who got in my face about the risks I was playing with. She saved my sight. I still live with periodic laser surgeries to keep my eye sight from going. All, known risks of Prednisone. We didn't have Internet in our home. It was Alaska.