Hi everyone,
I'm probably not in the right place but here goes....I'm looking for anyone that can help me understand the effects of prednisone withdrawal. My Mom was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis this past summer. She was put on some drug (can't remember what) that worked OK for awhile. When her liver enzymes started creeping back up the Dr. said it was time to put her on prednisone. He put her on 40mg/day prednisone. Within 2 weeks of being on the pred she ended up in the hospital with pred-induced diabetes. So, Dr. said 'let's get you off pred and start you on Imuran.' I think she went from 40mg/day to 30 mg/day in 5 days. Then 5 days later 20 mg day. As she continued to taper she started feeling rotten....ended up in ER with vomiting/dehydration. Continued to taper to 10mg. and has since been in the hospital now for almost 5 days.
Her symptoms are: fever (>101, especially at night), malaise, fatigue, low blood pressure (i.e. 80/50?- particularly at night when the fever spikes).
They've done the cortisol test with comes back negative, yet her Dr. seems to think her symptoms are due to prednisone withdrawal. They gave her an injection of dexameth...in the ER on Tuesday night- supposedly supposed to last 3 days. Still had her on 10 mg of prednisone on Wed and Thursday. Finally, yesterday they gave her the 30 mg prednisone but at night her fever spikes and blood pressure drops.
Though they've cultured her for infections (everything coming back negative), they did give her IV vancomycin just in case.
Has anyone here suffered such problems getting off prednisone? She's only been on it now for a total of 6 - 8 weeks.
The Dr's/hospital can't seem to find anything else wrong with her but I'm not comfortable having her come home with fever, low blood pressure.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
Thank you!
I'm probably not in the right place but here goes....I'm looking for anyone that can help me understand the effects of prednisone withdrawal. My Mom was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis this past summer. She was put on some drug (can't remember what) that worked OK for awhile. When her liver enzymes started creeping back up the Dr. said it was time to put her on prednisone. He put her on 40mg/day prednisone. Within 2 weeks of being on the pred she ended up in the hospital with pred-induced diabetes. So, Dr. said 'let's get you off pred and start you on Imuran.' I think she went from 40mg/day to 30 mg/day in 5 days. Then 5 days later 20 mg day. As she continued to taper she started feeling rotten....ended up in ER with vomiting/dehydration. Continued to taper to 10mg. and has since been in the hospital now for almost 5 days.
Her symptoms are: fever (>101, especially at night), malaise, fatigue, low blood pressure (i.e. 80/50?- particularly at night when the fever spikes).
They've done the cortisol test with comes back negative, yet her Dr. seems to think her symptoms are due to prednisone withdrawal. They gave her an injection of dexameth...in the ER on Tuesday night- supposedly supposed to last 3 days. Still had her on 10 mg of prednisone on Wed and Thursday. Finally, yesterday they gave her the 30 mg prednisone but at night her fever spikes and blood pressure drops.
Though they've cultured her for infections (everything coming back negative), they did give her IV vancomycin just in case.
Has anyone here suffered such problems getting off prednisone? She's only been on it now for a total of 6 - 8 weeks.
The Dr's/hospital can't seem to find anything else wrong with her but I'm not comfortable having her come home with fever, low blood pressure.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
Thank you!
