predisone withdrawal

[Angiesh]

I recently stopped taking Predisone and have been feeling really odd and lethargic. I reduced from 75 mg to 50mg for 3 days, 25mg for 3 days and 12 mg for 3 days and then nothing. This was on the advice of my doctor who said I had been on the drug for too long, but had to as it was not managing my symptoms.

At the moment I am just taking salazopyren 2 a day but have experienced the following systems. Really bad back ache first thing in the morning, bad headaches (never have headaches usually), really bloated stomatch... and I mean bloated and no energy whatsover.

I have read the symptoms of adrenal insufficient and I am a bit worried I have reduced my dose too quickly. I only use the predisone when I have a flare up which up to now was once a year? I have an appointment with the specialist later on in the week, but am worried I should go back to the docs prior to this appointment. Will I be ok to wait and see the specialist.

This is my first time on the forum, but have had chrones for about 30 years, but only recently has it begun to get worse. I am 48 years old and very worried about this at the mo. My worst nightware is having to have any type of operation or even cancer?

Am I over-reacting?

 

[rollinstone]

If you are concerned go to the doctor ASAP, that sounds like a really fast taper to me, don't leave it too late, I would go in just to make sure, let them know of all your symptoms

 

[sickofcrohns]

That taper is insanely fast. Talk to your doctor ASAP and see if you can get a second opinion on the taper from an older doctor -- the older the better! Any doctor who practiced through the 1960s-1970s will be familiar with steroid tapers, often better than ones who were trained recently (because steroids were introduced then, and there was a lot more published on them when they were new, and they would also have seen a lot more patients on steroids, since few other drugs were available at the time).

I was incapacitated for 2 months dropping from 25 to 5 mg, and it took me 10.5 years to get off prednisone completely -- every 1 mg of reduction in prednisone took at least 2 weeks of withdrawal! Not everyone is as sensitive as I am to prednisone, but changes in dose usually take several weeks to stabilize -- going 25 mg down every 3 days sounds like a recipe for disaster, especially if you have been on it for any appreciable length of time (i.e. more than a week).

As for surgery or cancer, well, the better-controlled your symptoms are, the less likely you'll need surgery, and cancer, well, in the rare event that you get it, you are seeing doctors more frequently than average, so chances are that it will be caught early & be treatable.