Can Prednisone be the cause of severe cramps?

[aburns0213]

My daughter starts her 1st Rem trtmt next Thurs. On Feb. 8th they started her on Pred to get diarrhea under control. 2, 10mg a day. Then after colonoscopy they said up it to 3 pills a day, so 30mg. The bottle says to take 3 a day so we've been doing 1 in morning, 1 in afternoon, 1 in evening. Were we supposed to do all 3 at one time? Next, they worked. Took a few days, and her stool started to firm up and she was starving daily. We were SOOOO excited. Then after about a week, they just stopped. She went in for a CT scan, had to drink those 3 bottles of gross liquid, and that day she has awful diarrhea again. I almost wonder if it was that CT scan solution. Anyway, she's had bad diarrhea since that day, Feb. 20th. Yesterday they told us to up her to 40mg a day and take 2 together in morning, 2 in evening. Last night, she said she had terrible pains. That she felt like she needed to go so bad and had to push out the diarrhea. She felt constipated she said. Then again woke up she said with cramps at a level 7. She's never had cramps with her Crohn's. Is this the Pred giving her the cramps? She took 40mg yesterday only, I'm thinking maybe I'll put her back to the 30mg today? She has diarrhea wether she's on them or not. But now she has terrible pains on and off all day. And I just don't know if that is a side effect of the meds, or if it's her Crohn's getting worse. Thanks!!

 

[eleanor_rigby]

I personally took all the prednisolone tablets together in the morning. Not sure what others do.
The CT scan solution will indeed cause diahorrea.
Where is her disease located? It is possible the cramps could be a partial obstruction if the disease is in her small bowel such as the ileum. This is where the inflammation causes the bowel to narrow so things like food get backed up. They tend to pass after a couple of days. If she starts vomiting with these cramps then she should go to hospital.

 

[ronroush7]

Hope she gets relief soon

 

[aburns0213]

The letter I got in the mail, smh, yes a letter.. says the CT confirms the presence of Crohn's in the distal small intestine. The remainder of the small intestine was normal. She also has it in her colon and esophagus.

 

[eleanor_rigby]

OK yeah the distal small intestine is the same as where my Crohn's is located. I also get these cramps.
The CT scan must have shown that she had inflammation. The small bowel has a diameter of about 3cm, so if you imagine if this becomes inflamed then it's going to narrow. This then makes it difficult for food and waste to pass through, hence the cramping. When she gets on long-term treatment and the inflammation heals, the cramps should subside. Make sure if the cramps get really bad or she gets sick etc take her to hospital.

 

[emma_0322]

With my experience it takes a couple of weeks for pred to start working. I also had signs of Crohn's in my small intestine. I ended up in the hospital with cramps of the same pain level, but after a few weeks on pred the inflammation went down and the cramps subsided. It however caused constipation so my gi had me start mixing miralax in a class of water. This should help with constipation and also be safe with the inflammation. Hope this could help you!