Hi all. Checking back in. Have had horrendous side effects from just 20 days of prednisone. Started at 15mg for two weeks then first reduction to 12.5mg. A few days later I was having serious emotional and cognitive side effects. As a psychologist I probably would have dx someone with similar symptoms as having Bipolar and/or early dementia. Scared the living hell out of me and my husband. Called rh and spoke with his wonderful nurse who reassured me I wasn’t losing my mind. Rh dropped me to 10mg for a week than will take 5mg for a week then stop. Have an office appt with rh 12/26. I have always had moderate to severe sensitivities to many common meds. Took statins for 2 weeks several years ago and had horrible myalgias. PCP stopped statin immediately. At 10mg my pain has returned. Headache starts about 2 hours after taking. Had to go back on a PPI instead of famotidine due to awful acid reflux. Crying for all reasons and no reason, angry and very irritable out of nowhere, hypomania. Scariest were the cognitive symptoms - memory, word finding difficulty, general brain fog. Was seriously worried about my ability to carry out my professional duties but apparently my 35 yrs of experience carried me through although I’m keeping a sharp eye on that and have consulted with colleagues. Did some research and found several recent studies on psychiatric and cognitive symptoms (one by Mayo) that affirmed a subset of patients on prednisone experience these side effects. Right now I’d rather have pain from PMR than go through this again. Right now I’m leaning heavily toward no drugs at all.

Anyone else with emotional and/or cognitive side effects? They really caught me off guard.