Back with the fat pill again.

[shalin]

After 12 years of remission I have had to go back on the prednisone pill again. The last time I did I gained over 80 lbs. It took about 5 years to take half of it off and I am still working on the rest. I recently start having issues that i haven't seen or felt in years. I will say the success of my remission is watch what you eat stay active do not use alcohalic beverages on a regular basis, and try to keep the stress down. I will admit I did smoke during this time but have recently ended that journey in my life. Hopefully permanently. For those of you who are on the steroids pill I do wish to find out how to remove the mood swings the emotions as well as the bloating. I do stay away from salt and watch my sodium intake. Just need some advice.

 

[Jennifer]

Hi and welcome to the forum! Would you like to share your story in the Your Story section?

When on high doses of Prednisone (30mg and up for long periods of time) there's no real way around the water retention. As you know you can try to stay away from salty foods as those just cause more water retention but another issue is that people tend to want to eat more. In this case you'll have to really watch your diet and make sure you don't consume too many calories and fatty foods. Following something along the lines of the low residue diet should help with that. Then you shouldn't be gaining fat on top of the water retention so once you come off the steroids your weight should return to normal. As far as the mood swings go that's a tough one. I had to be put on antidepressants the last time I took Prednisone. Thoughts of suicide and attempting suicide should be taken seriously and anyone who suffers from these should seek help from a psychologist and psychiatrist if needed.

May I ask what your symptoms are?

 

[shalin]

I started having bloody bowel movements and severe abdominal pain. Tried to maintain it with a bland diet and I have been excercizing for about 3 months consistantly. But sometimes the inevetable is hard to avoid. I was on 60 mg for about 3 yrs and then 40 mg for about a year then slowly downsized after that the last time I was on them. I am emotionally trying to grasp the fact that the ugly is coming back and there is nothing I can do about it.

 

[Jennifer]

What other meds were you taking or are you taking? Doesn't really make sense to only treat with steroids. There are so many new medications out now that weren't really around 12 years ago.

 

[David]

Hi there and welcome

I'm with Crabby, I'm curious about other medications you've tried as well. There's a lot of fantastic treatments out there now and steroids can sometimes be avoided. Heck, even total enteral nutrition has about the same remission induction rates as steroids.

 

[shalin]

I was on imuran for years and before that I was on asacol. But for the last 8 years there was no meds. I just did miralax to keep regulated. I go see my Dr again on thursday. He will then reasess my situation and then we will decide from there what meds to put me on in replace of the steroids. I have only been on the roids for a week and the weight gain has started and the puffy rosatia cheeks are back. I just found this sight and figured it would be nice to talk to people who knew what I was going through.

 

[David]

I'd take a look at the various treatments listed under our treatment forum and research them prior to your doctor's appointment. That way you can be in a better place to discuss any that sound interesting to you. And we're of course happy to answer any questions.

 

[shalin]

Went to Dr yesterday. Found out that when I decided to quit smoking cold turkey it was a bad idea. I put my body in shock mode. This triggered my colitis to flare. So to calm my body from shock he put me on the patch (half of one) per day and then Canasa. He is removing me from the prednisone. YEAH!!!!!! I start on 20mg today and after a week I move to 15 and so on. I can't wait to start feeling 100% again.

 

[David]

Good deal! I hope you're back to 100% soon

 

[Jennifer]

Went to Dr yesterday. Found out that when I decided to quit smoking cold turkey it was a bad idea. I put my body in shock mode. This triggered my colitis to flare. So to calm my body from shock he put me on the patch (half of one) per day and then Canasa. He is removing me from the prednisone. YEAH!!!!!! I start on 20mg today and after a week I move to 15 and so on. I can't wait to start feeling 100% again.

There have been studies that show nicotine is actually helpful for patients with Colitis. It may not be the act of smoking in general but the nicotine itself (although in the link it mentions that the nicotine gum didn't show as good of results as those who actually smoked). They're looking for better ways to administer the nicotine rather than have the drawbacks of smoking and is being considered as a viable treatment option especially in cases where patients aren't able to take steroids.

"While smoking appears to exert deleterious effects in Crohn’s disease [1, 2], there is overwhelming epidemiological evidence that smoking protects against ulcerative colitis, the risk of developing the disease being significantly lower in smokers than in non-smokers or former smokers [2, 3]. The fact that patients with ulcerative colitis who resume or start smoking often experience clinical improvement [4] prompted attempts to verify the hypothesis that nicotine might be the active component of smoking responsible for the beneficial effects on the course of the disease." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2014383/

 

[David]

I guess I assumed you had Crohn's. Do you have Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease?

 

[shalin]

I have both. I was diagnosed with both back in 1995., I spent a long time in the hospital trying to control it back in 96 but once I figured out with diet and stress control how to live comfortable it was good. Right now he is trying to control my colitis so. that I don't trigger my crohn's. If that happens then I am in for a long hospital stay with a central and tpn. So I am hoping this treatment works. I go back and see him in 2 weeks. And have more labs done. He was still waiting on my labs when i went in for my appt. So I won't know til Monday if there was anything cell wise going on.