Prednisone Side Effects

I take 60 mg/day of prednisone for an optic neuritis, and for a month now since taking it have only felt very happy and highly energetic. I have felt some hunger, but I've been able to control it with snacking on fruits. I also take a mood stabilizer and I'm not certain if this is the reason why I'm not feeling the strange irritable mood swings like others here have stated. I am pretty sure the mood stabilizer is controlling the mood swings. Maybe this could be helpful to others as something they could discuss with their doctors and experiment with. I was able to get sufficient hours of sleep, but my body is hardwired to wake up like 5 am each day probably because I'm a morning person.

Sounds like the mood stabilizer is a good thing. Thank goodness my husband finally has stopped taking the prednisone. It gave him cataracts after he took it for a long time (10 years). Hope you don't have to stay on it too long.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prednisone
Using prednisode long term does have an affect on the liver. Fatty liver.

This is the worst.. LiverTransplant patient medication living with is the worst abuse.. Doctors don’t tell you how abusive it is or now the anger has gotten worse . I don’t think I can handle it much more. Has gotten where it’s gotten physical and then it looks like the devil has taken over then it’s I’m sorry.. I resent where family doesn’t help..

My husband was on very high doses of prednisone last year(summer 2017), he was a nightmare! For 6 months our lives were a living hell, he was downright scary. Prednisone was an absolute last resort for treatment, he would have died of a stroke or brain aneurysm if not on it. We have wonderful doctors that kept a very close watch on him.

Hi, @karent57 - welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I'm sorry to hear your husband was a nightmare and downright scary with taking high doses of prednisone, yet he had to take it as an absolute last resort for treatment. Glad his doctors kept a very close watch on him.

I have to take prednisone myself from time to time for a 5-day course due to asthma that gets exacerbated beyond what my normal medication can handle. I know that it is not my family's favorite when I have to take it. I can tell you from my own experience that it's a bit rough for the patient taking it, as sleep is really hard to come by, and it's very difficult for me to hold in my emotions. It's like everything is magnified and your reactivity is, too.

I'm hoping that @suefarar1 will return and share her experiences with prednisone, and I'd also like to invite @tinkerbell @eileen14 @seanlroop @kimh @aland and @cubs0816, who have mentioned this medication, to share their stories with prednisone.

@karent57 - will you share a bit more about your husband's medical situation that prompted his treatment with high-dose prednisone?

@lisalucier right after my first CT scan my primary care gave a 7 day dose of Prednisone. 2 or 3 days in ALL my aches and pains went away. I felt 21 years old again. For about 2 days after the Prednisone was over. So about a week. My GI passed me off to a pain management clinic, my primary care agreed. First visit was not good. I didn't have all my records as my electronic records don't transfer to his network. I'll gather it all and go back. I've lost some weight, Tylenol helps, hydrocodone for the worst days. My syptoms vay from a dull deep ache to an annoying feeling like something trying to escape (think outward pressure) to the worst (inward pressure). I've started wearing a hernia belt when the outward pressure is bothering me, fight pressure with pressure. GI will redo CT scan in 5 months now...if the same or worse she wants to biopsy the lymph nodes at the root, or the root itself, sorry I don't have my findings with me. Anyway this pain sucks and I want it to go away. Very few understand.

Hi @karen57
I have been on prednisone for well over a year now, continually weaning down in dosage until my latest relapse of Mesenteric Panniculitis. I've had to go back on to 40 mg. (weaning down 5 mg. daily) and then on 5 mg. for at least another month. While the prednisone helps with my inflammations, there are a slew of side effects for sure! This medication has affected my weight, my mood, facial hair growth and bone loss. My doctors have also put me on azathioprine and tamoxifen. At times, I feel a bit like we are experimenting, but due to lack of research on this disease, we probably are....I hope this was helpful.

As somebody who has Crohn's disease and experience with Prednisone, I feel for you greatly, including over the years the guinea pig aspect of multiple drug combinations.

And the forever hopeful...."maybe this is the combination that will work..."