Just Diagnosed

[puggles]

Hi Everyone,

I just found out that have Crohn's Disease. My only symptom was diarrhea which i thought i caused myself from anxiety. I did get stomach pains but not to the extremity that i have read, nor blood or anything like that. I have lost lots of weight (40kg) but i have worked hard to lose that with diet and regular exercise. I used to be very big.

I just started taking Prednisone 25mg and instructed to go down 5mg each week. I am really worried about putting on weight given i have worked so hard to lose it. Of course i will keep up my exercise and diet and i know the benefits outweigh the side effects, but i do not want my hard work to go undone.

Is this a small dose and given the timeframe i am on it for, will i gain weight?

Thanks

 

[Hobbes650]

Hi Puggles,

Weight game is not a certainty. When I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis I started on 60 mg a day. Two months later I was down 20 pounds and in the hospital. However, some people will improve and gain lots of weight while others may improve and not gain much at all. Sorry, but nobody can really predict the course you take. As for exercise and diet, be attentive to what feels good. Some people get joint pains and have to alter their exercising. Exercise as you feel up to it and don't feel bad if you can't exercise as much as you want. Your body is fighting this disease and may need to rest more. 25 mg a day of Prednisone is not a small dose. Small would probably be like 5 mg or less. I consider "small" doses the amount you can safely stop taking, without tapering down first. Pay attention to our symptoms during the taper- if you're not feeling as good then you might get pushed up in dose briefly before starting a slower taper down. I am taking 40 mg of Prednisone now for Crohn's in my ileum. My first taper was to 20 mg, but after one day at 20 I had a bad headache, chills and a fever, so bumped back up. Will try 30mg at some point instead. I hope you feel better soon and please keep us posted!

Hobbes

 

[Rebecca85]

Personally, I would consider 25mg to be smaller than average. I started on IV steroids, then onto 30mg of prednisolone, with instructions to drop 5mg a week. When I went on holiday just after diagnosis, I took emergency steroids with me with instructions to take 40mg initially.

I gained weight whilst on the steroids, but I would guess at less than 5kg, bearing in mind I lost 2kg the week before and goodness knows how much before that (I went down a dress size just prior to diagnosis, and the steroids put me back to my original dress size). So weight gain isn't a definite.