Prednisone has helped me a lot, but there were a few side effects for me. The worst was increased appetite, and weight gain (I love my clothes and want them to fit!) And the other is wounds seem to take a lot longer to heal (I cut myself when cooking/papercuts, etc). Otherwise, it made me feel 100% better even on a small dose. When I tapered before, I just knew I was ready, I stopped taking it and just had one or two days of feeling tired, but otherwise was fine. Now I am on a small dose again because of a flare. The ultimate goal is to feel fine without it, but it's helpful right now, I am just really watching my diet to stay low on calories and avoiding anything that might upset my digestion. Especially caffeine, which giving it up helps with insomnia/diarrhea/dehydration and a lot more. I also am trying to limit sugar intake since prednisone raises your blood sugar. Doctors are trying to convince me that I need something else, but I don't see why when all drugs have side effects, and this seems to be working. I'm going on a year and a half I've been taking it on and off, and I am happy with it so far. I have not experienced any mood swings or any effect on my emotion except that it improves my mood because I'm not in so much pain. My plan now is just to stay on a small dose only if needed, and hopefully use it as an aide in my treatment along with diet and yoga.
