Connect
Low blood sugar on prednisone
Has anyone experienced shaky hands and low blood sugar while on prednisone? I'm tapering from 25 (now on 23mg) and this has happened from the beginning, since October. Not every day, but if I don't eat, I get worse. I'm otherwise very healthy, except for PMR.
Like
Helpful
HugInterested in more discussions like this? Go to the Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) Support Group.
Connect
Agreed!
@mech
Prednisone is a crazy drug. It actually makes people crazy when all the mood changes and psychiatric side effects are considered. These effects are often referred to as corticosteroid-induced psychiatric disturbances. I had some of those side effects too.
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)61160-9/fulltext.
-----------------------------------
If people don't have psychiatric disturbances trying to figure out how to taper off Prednisone will drive you crazy. Actemra really has helped me simply because I no longer need to worry about how much Prednisone I need to take every day.
Ugh. Fortunately I don't have those side effects. I've been tapering from 25mg. My rheumatologist said go down 1mg every 5 days as long as I'm still feeling ok. So far, so good. I go to 22mg today. Best of luck to you
@caroljeand
I just made an appointment with an endocrinologist for help with prednisone tapering. I've had PMR on and off for 10 years and just found out that I should see an endo. My rheumatologists always urge me to get off prednisone as fast as I can. While I would love to get off pred., it's easier said than done.
Now I am so weak I can barely function due to my rheumatologist's tapering schedule. I've struggled with this for years and hope the endo will have a better understanding of my situation.
I'm glad to see that others have gone this route.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 Reaction@judyb43
In an ideal world ... tapering off Prednisone as soon as possible is the best approach. However, neither PMR or too fast of a taper was ideal. However, being on Prednisone for a long time wasn't ideal either. In retrospect ... nothing was ideal.
Tapering off prednisone was easier said than done especially the longer I took prednisone. My rheumatologist wasn't wrong to encourage me to get off prednisone as fast as I could. As it turned out prednisone was the problem when an endocrinologist explained to me how prednisone suppressed my adrenal function and made me dependent on prednisone. My endocrinologist said I could hardly function because my cortisol level was too low when my Prednisone dose was less than 5 mg.
It was impossible for me to taper off prednisone until a biologic made it easier for me. The biologic controlled PMR without suppressing my adrenal function.
There was a stage where I could hardly function. It wasn't because of my rheumatologist's tapering schedule because she allowed me to be on prednisone for more than 12 years before a biologic was tried. My endocrinologist said 12 years was a long time to be on prednisone. It was going to take some additional time for my adrenal function to be normal again even after I tapered off prednisone.
Wow. I'm sorry you're going through all of that. My best to you.