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Prednisolone Taper and Problems

Tony H

Well-known member
Hi up to 6 weeks ago I was on 40 mg of pred , when I was released from hospital I was on 25 mg and was given no instructions on how to reduce it ,
after countless attempts to contact my surgeon I was finally told to reduce by 5mg every 5 days , so I was on

25mg for13 days
20mg for 5 days
15 mg for 5 days
10 mg for 5 days ,

all was good until i reached the 10mg , since then 5 days so far I have headache , joint pain , and a lot of muscular pain and fatigue ,
Has anyone else experienced this on tapering from pred ?

Im temped to up the dose to 15 again but I have an appointment with the surgeon on the 19th and I might just hold on until then .

the only pain relief im taking is paracetamol , i have oxy but I dont want to use than unless i really have to .
 
I was on 40mg the same as you initially but reduced by 5mg every 7 days. I suffered with every reduction for about 4 days and then things seemed to balance out just in time for me to drop it again and feel rubbish for a few days!

When I hit 25mg I felt so awful that I went back to my GP after the nurse advised I might be tapering too quickly.

She tested my thyroid just in case but said it's likely the steroids were affecting my hormones (hot flushes at 25!) but other than that not to up them and continue tapering off.

In hindsight I wish I'd called the IBD nurse because I never really thought the steroids had much chance to do their job and felt no better for taking them. I ended up on the liquid diet a few weeks later because my symptoms were back with a vengeance.

I honestly think that each week my symptoms were gradually returning with each drop but I'd only just been diagnosed and didn't know any better. I would give your doctor a quick call, they may be able to advise.
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Hi. Call your doctor and ask him about increasing it. I hope you feel better.
I would call him Ron but the guy is a great surgeon but he is really hard to get in contact with , and my gp does not want to contradict his instructions ,
I will be seeing him on the 19 th so I will wait it out until then ,
I might give it another few days at 10 mg before I drop to 5mg , that might help a bit .
 

Tony H

Well-known member
I upped the dose to 15mg myself yesterday and will keep it at that for 7 days and i will go down by 1mg a week after that and see how I get on , I'm fed up with doctors not getting back to me so im going to do it "my way" .
 
I upped the dose to 15mg myself yesterday and will keep it at that for 7 days and i will go down by 1mg a week after that and see how I get on , I'm fed up with doctors not getting back to me so im going to do it "my way" .


Fair play to you, with hindsight I wish I'd done that myself so I know how it feels. The side effects of these drugs aren't pleasant anyway so I think it says a lot if we would rather up the dose ourselves!
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Fair play to you, with hindsight I wish I'd done that myself so I know how it feels. The side effects of these drugs aren't pleasant anyway so I think it says a lot if we would rather up the dose ourselves!
the annoying thing is that apart from the pred withdrawals I'm doing really well
I have regained all the weight I lost , I'm back up to 12 stone and my stoma is perfect .
 
the annoying thing is that apart from the pred withdrawals I'm doing really well

I have regained all the weight I lost , I'm back up to 12 stone and my stoma is perfect .


I felt great the first two weeks and gaining weight, it was only with each drop that I suffered until eventually at 15mg I felt worse than I did before I went on them. I appreciate my GP didn't want to interfere but I couldn't wait as long as I knew it would take the hospital to get back to me so I put up and shut up. Let us know how you get on :)
 
I would call him Ron but the guy is a great surgeon but he is really hard to get in contact with , and my gp does not want to contradict his instructions ,
I will be seeing him on the 19 th so I will wait it out until then ,
I might give it another few days at 10 mg before I drop to 5mg , that might help a bit .
I had a terrible time tapering, I ended up getting 1 mg tabs and tapered just 1mg at a time, over long periods, like a week at least. Still was difficult.
 

Tony H

Well-known member
I went back up to 15mg and I will stay at that until next week
I'm seeing the surgeon next Monday and I'll let him sort it out then .
 

Tony H

Well-known member
missed the surgeons appointment due to a chest infection so im going to go down by 1mg at a time and see how it goes , im on 14mg for the last 5 days and all is good so far .
 

Tony H

Well-known member
I'm down to 5 mg today going to stay at that for 5 days and go to 2.5 after that for another 5 ,
joints are aching a bit and have some tenderness in the skin of my legs ,like bruising but no bruises and my eyelids are sore ,
but apart from that im feeling good
 

Tony H

Well-known member
down to 2.5 mg a day for the last 2 days and no major setbacks (YET) I might yet see the end of pred ☠before long [emoji304][emoji304][emoji304]
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Back up to 10mg had a bad reaction with my output (pure liquid and upset stomach) back on 10 and everything good
I'm going to try 1mg reduction after a week on 10 and see how I go ,
I HATE PREDNISONE
 
Prednisolone is the work of the devil. I struggled to taper from an initial dose of 40mg. Got down to 20mg and symptoms returned. Then managed to reduce to. 10mg but symptoms returned. Eventually I got some 1mg tablets and tapered by 1mg per week which worked.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Tony, I feel for you, I'm in a similar boat. I've also been tapering down by 1 mg per week. I'm down to 6 mg pred now, but I've tried twice to taper to 5 mg, and both times I failed and had symptoms and had to go back up to 6 mg. It's frustrating to be so close yet so far! Like you said, I just want to be off the stuff already. Hopefully the end really is in sight for both of us! My next step is that I'm going to try to taper to 5.5 mg instead (my GI prescribed me some 1 mg tablets and some 2.5 mg tablets, so I'm going to combine those to get to 5.5). If I can't make that work then I don't know what I'll do! Good luck to you, hopefully the day will be soon when we can both say we're off of pred.
 
Yes, I want to get off the steroid rollercoaster too! I can see my own cheeks in my peripheral vision, my mind is making plans that my body can't keep up with, and a little sleep wouldn't go astray.
I did practically beg for it though, as I was desperate for any relief, so it's my own fault. I tried to drop 10 (from 40) before Christmas, but my inflammatory markers tripled, so I had to go back up to 20. Tried 15, then 12.5, now back up to 15.
*Throws hands up in the air*
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Yes, my cheeks have become quite chubby too! I hate it, especially when people take photos of me. I think I'm smiling normally for a photo but then I look so odd in the photo because of my cheeks, ugh! My sister-in-law made some comment at xmas about my "face fullness" and I had to stop myself from saying something mean to her. I know it'll go away when I'm off of pred, but since I'm having a hard time getting off of pred, I'm getting impatient and frustrated! I want to be off the stuff and have my face go back to normal!
 
I bought big hoop earrings to wear to a wedding (my only outing in a year!) to distract attention from my face, and They. Did. Not. Fit! They got caught in the fat rolls in my neck and there wasn't enough room between my ears and my shoulders. How can earrings not fit? Had to laugh. I've put them in my "non-steroid" wardrobe.

Tony & Cat - How are your tapers going? I have been following your stories closely (potentially stalkerishly) from afar.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
My taper is at a temporary stand-still for the moment. I told my GI I'm staying at 6 mg for at least another week or two before I try again to taper. When I do try to taper, I'm going to go down to 5.5 mg. But I have yet to pick up the 2.5 mg tablets from the pharmacy and I'm in no rush to taper just yet, I need to recover more fully from my last taper fail first. Ugh.

I was initially so happy to get down to 6 mg, because previously I couldn't get below 10 mg without having a flare/taper fail. I had been begging my GI for months to put me on LDN, and he finally agreed, and once LDN started kicking in then I was able to get below 10 mg pred. So happy! But then it all came to a halt again when I tried tapering to 5 mg and failed at that, twice. I'm hoping 3rd try is the charm! I don't want to be stuck at 6 mg pred forever. So close and yet so far...

Oh gosh, I'm glad I haven't thought to try big hoop earrings! But I am wearing long dangly earrings today in an effort to draw the eye away from my face flab. :p I think it's working! They haven't gotten stuck in anything other than my hair so far, so I think it's a success.

Speaking of hair, has anyone else's hair been falling out (like, more than usual) while on pred? Mine has been falling out a lot, sometimes even in clumps, and it was never thick to begin with. It's always been fine and thin, and is much more thin nowadays, so that has been a big impetus for me to try to get off of pred. I don't have much hair left to lose before I start going noticeably bald! :( Part of me wants to just shave it off and start over fresh, but I don't think my face is cute enough (nor do I have enough confidence) to pull off a shaved head look. It takes a certain kind of woman to be able to rock that look and I don't think I'm it.

Back to the subject of the non-steroid wardrobe - I've gained a bunch of weight, too. Before this flare started (back in July 2016), my weight was at about 146 lbs. But a lot of it was muscle because I was a regular exerciser. I could fit into a size 6 pants back then. Then, I flared, and I lost 17 lbs in about a month, and dropped down to 129. I stayed at 129 for as long as I was on a liquid elemental diet, but of course once I could eat food, the steroids made me eat ALL the food. I gained all my weight back and then some, and of course it came back not as muscle but as fat. My waistline is noticeably thicker and jigglier now. The highest my weight has gotten was 153, I'm currently at 148. So although I'm only 2 lbs heavier than I was before the flare, my body composition is very different (much more fat and less muscle) so I've gone up a pants size, from a 6 to an 8, and in shirts I've gone from small to medium. I got depressed about that and ended up donating some of my smaller clothes and have been buying clothes in my new, larger size. If I do go back down to my previous size, the good news is that I can sew, so I can take things in and make them smaller. Yay? In the meantime I feel flabby. I had started exercising again once I started LDN, but then my two recent taper fails have kicked my butt and forced me back out of the gym again.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Oh, and no worries about following me even if it's somewhat stalkerishly! I feel like if talking about my experience on the forum can help even one person even one tiny bit, then it's all good. :)
 
Thanks for the stalker approval. I'm up to page 223 of the Undiagnosed Club thread - been reading it like a novel!
Yes, weight is a problem for me too. I have 2 teenage daughters, so I NEVER say the word fat, or comment on any body type. Having said that, when they aren't around, I whinge about it. My first gastro, who I called Dr Fat, actually told me that I would feel better with my Crohn's if I lost weight as "you are clearly obese" - I was 90kgs - granted that is too big for my 5ft 4 height - but really? Way to make a person want to end it all.
Sadly, my face has never really gone down, even with many months in between rounds of steroids. Nothing has ever actually gone down, even after almost a year of forced Gluten-Free (stupid Coeliac Disease). I want to punch people who miraculously shed kgs going gluten-free, even though they aren't Coeliac. Through my stalking, I do know about your mum's self-diagnoses, and the trouble you have convincing her that neither of you are in fact Coeliac.
I haven't noticed too much hair loss, but I have massive hair, and used to have it thinned at the hairdresser, so I don't think I'd mind. I'm too chicken to shave my head too - imagine how big I would look bald!
Re distraction techniques: I wear eye make up when I have a coldsore outbreak, and wear clothes that expose as much cleavage as possible (ridiculously enormous, steroid enhanced boobs). That works well.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Clothing-wise, I just try to wear looser clothes that disguise the steroid belly, I haven't found many other good techniques besides that. I've had multiple rounds of steroids as well, so my belly hasn't been flat in years. I first got sick in Oct 2009, was put on Entocort in 2010, and since then I've had at least some belly flab. I've been on Entocort at least 3 times, I did a couple trials of pred prior to this long course of it, and for at least a year I was on steroid suppositories to try to get my massively bleeding hemorrhoids under control. Fun times (not!). So yeah, for almost 7 years now I've had some belly flab, but never as much as I have now. This is definitely the worst it's ever been, so I've been struggling a bit with how to dress myself in a way that is flattering and minimizes how gross I feel about my current body.

I don't think my boobs have grown at all! :( My butt has, though. It's always been a bit too large for my frame anyway, but at least when I am exercising regularly then it's nice and round and a cute shape. Me not exercising for a large chunk of this flare, my butt musculature has sort of deflated - it's flattened out and widened a bit, it's seriously not cute. I need to get back to the gym!

Yeah, my mother definitely has some issues! I'm sorry to hear that you do have Celiac. I have tried gluten-free and it didn't make any difference at all for me - if anything, it made me a bit worse. A lot of GF replacement type foods contain corn, which seems to bother me a bit. And some GF foods contain coconut flour - I cannot do coconut at all, even small bits will make me ill sometimes for days. It's almost like an allergy, the last time I accidentally had coconut, I started sweating and shaking and got so nauseous and it lasted for about 4 days. So I do much better when I eat gluten, as it doesn't upset me like corn and certainly not like coconut!

What I really need to do is to stick to a Japanese-style diet. When I went to Japan last year, that was the best I've felt in ages. I walked around a ton and I ate a lot, and I felt so good. I need to just eat a lot of fish and rice mainly and walk more. I do well when I stick to that.

I have at least one "in real life" friend who has Celiac, and she's definitely gained weight from having to eat gluten-free, so you're not alone there. My mother hasn't gained weight, but she mainly just eats salads and also she runs marathons, so she's very thin!
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Down to 5mg today and no big problems so far ,with a bit of luck I should be off this poison by the end of the month .[emoji88]
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Good luck, Tony! I started getting symptoms at 6 mg so I went back up to 8 mg. :( I'm going to try to taper down to 7 mg tomorrow. I really hope to be off of this stuff soon too, but I don't know realistically when that's actually going to happen. I'm 37 so at this rate I'm sort of just hoping to be off of pred before I turn 40...
 
Having similar problems, wishing you all the best. I've been tapering from 60mg (at 10mg/week) for a month now and it was going great until I hit 20mg. That was a week ago and I've been having symptoms since then. I was supposed to go down to 10mg today but messaged my doctor about it because I was worried and he said to stay on 20mg for another week, then taper by 5mg/week after that. I really hope it helps because if I can't obtain some sort of remission without steroids, my next option is probably surgery.

Anyone know at what point the swelling in your face goes away??
 
Last time the splitting headaches hit me around the 10 or 5 mg mark as well, but I was able to get through it and taper off successfully. I'm at 30 mg now, going down 10 mg every 5 days...Hoping for the best. A little nervous because I know I tapered by 5's last time and jumping from 10 to 0 seems like a lot. Haven't been on it long this time, though. We shall see.
Wishing you all the best in your adventures with this gross but sometimes necessary evil...
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Good luck, Tony! I started getting symptoms at 6 mg so I went back up to 8 mg. :( I'm going to try to taper down to 7 mg tomorrow. I really hope to be off of this stuff soon too, but I don't know realistically when that's actually going to happen. I'm 37 so at this rate I'm sort of just hoping to be off of pred before I turn 40...
Thanks Cat , I hope you have better luck soon , I'm nearly 57 so hopefully I will be off it by the time I'm 60 ,
I'm on 5mg from today and apart from some joint pain I am doing well , I'm seeing my surgeon on the 23rd of this month so I really want to be off pred by then .
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
That's great, Tony! I hope you continue to have an uneventful taper. I chickened out this morning and only tapered to 7.5 mg, will try going down to 7 in a few days. Maybe if I just taper by 0.5 mg I'll be okay. I've had issues even just trying to taper down by 1 mg at a time, so hopefully 0.5 mg is the answer for me. I hope so!

Crohner000, I don't know, but I feel for you, I hate how puffy my face is! My skin is gross too. I hate it. I've been trying a few different Korean skincare products and that seems to be helping my skin somewhat, but I don't think anything aside from coming off of the pred is going to make my chipmunk cheeks go away. And I have no idea how long it'll take once I'm finally off of the pred.
 
Is it normal to feel like you don't care about anything while on prednisolone and tapering? I seem to not care about anything and am generally uninterested in everything. I have to say I am also in a confused state all the time
 

Tony H

Well-known member
I'm down to 4mg and I'm getting a lot more output from my rectal stump , rang my GI and was told to stay at 4mg until I see my surgeon in two weeks ,apart from some joint pain I'm feeling good enough
 
Is it normal to feel like you don't care about anything while on prednisolone and tapering? I seem to not care about anything and am generally uninterested in everything. I have to say I am also in a confused state all the time


It can certainly effect your moods and mental state. Depression is listed as a side effect and one major symptom of that in my experience is losing interest in the things you enjoy. It doesn't necessarily mean feeling sad or 'depressed' in the classic sense of the word, it can be a horrible numbness and lack of feeling. Almost like you are empty. Sometimes you can get anxiety at the same time which is just awful.

Depending on how long you are going to be on the pred for and how long you have felt that way I would mention it to your doctor.

Take care x
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Kancer, yes, I agree 100% with what Soph said. Pred can absolutely mess with your head big-time, and that does sound like depression to me as well. What dosage are you on right now? Things should get better as you taper down the dose. Having said that, I'm down to 7 mg (I started at 40 mg) and I still have the occasional crying fit. I can't wait to be off of pred. If you're feeling well enough to, try to do some exercise. Even if you just take a walk outside, that should help - getting some exercise and vitamin D from the sun should help alleviate the depression somewhat. It certainly does for me.
 
Yes, following from what Cat said I have fairly severe SAD. This year I got a SAD lamp and it's made a huge difference. It's the next best thing to sunlight for me, although it does mean if I can't be bothered to go out and do things I rely on the lamp so it's a double edged sword!
 
I am currently at 40mg and would start the taper in another 2 weeks. The exact way I can describe my feeling is I don't feel sad. I feel empty, plain, indifferent to everything. I am not sure if this is what depression feels like but I feel like I have no feelings. Really sorry if I am confusing you guys but I am confused on how I am feeling.

I am currently taking calcium and vitamin D supplements and take walks to feel relaxed.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
That still sounds like depression to me. If you're familiar with Hyperbole and a Half, she had a 2-part entry about depression which explained it a lot better than I'm able to. She went totally numb and indifferent as well during her experience with depression. Here's the links to those posts:



Depression part 1

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2011/10/adventures-in-depression.html

Depression part 2

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2013/05/depression-part-two.html


Wow, those are ironically quite moving. Very well written and relatable!
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Gone back up to 10mg as im getting a lot of liquid , blood and urgency from down below , hopefully that will stabilise it until I see the surgeon on the 23rd .
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Aw, Tony, I'm sorry you've had to go back up to 10 mg, but I hope that it helps. Keep us posted on what happens on the 23rd. Are you on any other meds besides pred? Anything for maintenance?

I'm still doing okay at 7 mg. Planning to taper to 6.5 mg on Thursday. Hopefully my body will continue to be okay with me tapering by 0.5 mg per week because I don't think I can taper by any lower than that!
 

Tony H

Well-known member
great that you are going well Cat ,
no im not on any maintenance meds and i think thats the problem ,
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Oh goodness, Tony, I think I'd have to agree with that. Personally, I know I need maintenance meds. I can't stay in remission without them. I was and still am on Lialda, but that by itself wasn't enough to keep me from flaring up last year, so now I've added LDN into the mix and I'm hoping that's going to be enough to keep me feeling reasonably well once I'm finally off of pred.

If it were me, I'd be asking my doctor about maintenance meds. I'm sure that from being on the forum, you have a good idea of what your options are. You don't want to come off of pred only to flare up again, so it's probably best to start looking into maintenance meds now, so that it has a chance to start working before you're fully off of pred. Just my two cents of course! :)

How's your taper going? As of today I tapered down to 6.5 mg (was going to taper last week but I caught a cold and decided to stay at 7 mg until I was feeling better). So far so good. I'm now tapering by 0.5 mg per week because I had too many issues when I was tapering by 1 mg per week. So it's a verrrrrrryyyyy slooooooow taper but hopefully it works and in about 13 weeks I can be done with the darn stuff already!
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Hi Cat , I finally had my follow up with my surgeon today , told him about the problems I was having "down below" , and he said its not a big problem , told me the options that I had ,which really boiled down to keeping the ostomy , ostomy reversal and stump removal ,
told him I was quite happy with my stoma and would be keeping it , keeping the stump as well (with regular monitoring) for the foreseeable future ,
so he prescribed me with salofalk enemas to deal with the inflammation , as far as the pred is concerned , now that I will be taking salofalk it should help get me off the pred for good ,
Im on 10mg at the moment so I will drop it to 7.5 to start with and see how I go from there
Great that you are going well with the slow taper , hopefully you will be rid of it soon
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Tony, I'm glad to hear that you've got something to treat the stump, I hope it helps you get off of the pred. Good luck with the 7.5 mg taper too! I'm still doing okay at 6.5 mg. I had a headache this morning so I took some acetaminophen, but I stupidly took it on an empty stomach, and that made my stomach pretty unhappy, but other than that I'm doing okay still.
 

Tony H

Well-known member
Thanks Cat , I have started today with Pentasa Suppositories as the pharmacy had not the
salofalk enemas in stock , hopefully this will be the med that will get me off the pred ,

hopefully the acetaminophen's (paracetamol ) bad effects will be short lived .
 

Tony H

Well-known member
down to 7.5 mg for the last 5 days going to 5mg tomorrow ,the pentasa is helping a lot .
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
That's great, Tony! I'm at 6.5 mg with plans to taper to 6 tomorrow. I hope the pentasa continues to help you a lot and that you can get off of the pred soon. It'll be awhile yet for me since I'm only tapering by 0.5 mg per week, but at least I'm headed in the right direction!
 

Tony H

Well-known member
as long as its successful that's all that matters Cat ,


hope your taper continues to be successful Cat .
 

Tony H

Well-known member
went down to 2-5 (easy to split 5mg) today still taking pentasa suppositories and inflamation in stump has reduced considerably .
 
Thanks Ron I think Im finally almost free of prednisone .
Congrats Tony. I hope you can be completely off prednisone. I just got down to 10mg recently dropping 5mg weekly. I hope I don't flare back up.

Out of curiosity, I would like to know if there are any post prednisone care. I feel like I just got fat and my skin look extremely bad. Muscles are weak. I just feel like I can't even exercise since I feel weak.
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
That's great, Tony! I flared up again at 6 mg and had to go back up to 7. My GI is tweaking my other meds (currently trying an even lower dose of LDN) to see if that makes any difference. The lady at the compounding pharmacy said that sometimes you have to taper super slowly, like she suggested I try lowering my pred dose by 0.5 mg per month! Yikes! At that rate it'll be a year before I'm off of the stuff. I had been tapering by 0.5 mg each week, so I think for now I'm going to try tapering every 2 weeks or so and see how that goes.
 
I could never get off the steroids so my adrenals no longer produce cortisol. I now have secondary adrenal insufficiency. It is another scary disease that is now worse than crohns. I may never get off steroids. The body produces the equivalent of about 7 mgs of prednisone a day when you are healthy and produces more when you are sick or stressed. Might be time to consult with and endocrinologist who can help determine an appropriate withdrawal.
 

Tony H

Well-known member
That's great, Tony! I flared up again at 6 mg and had to go back up to 7. My GI is tweaking my other meds (currently trying an even lower dose of LDN) to see if that makes any difference. The lady at the compounding pharmacy said that sometimes you have to taper super slowly, like she suggested I try lowering my pred dose by 0.5 mg per month! Yikes! At that rate it'll be a year before I'm off of the stuff. I had been tapering by 0.5 mg each week, so I think for now I'm going to try tapering every 2 weeks or so and see how that goes.
Thats awful Cat , the pentasa has made a big difference for me , it kept my stump happy and I dont seem to have any other effects , I think I will go 1mg every second day for a few days and then stop altogether if it goes well ,
I really hope the slower taper works for you Cat , thanks for all the support everyone , it really does make all the difference to me .
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Out of curiosity, I would like to know if there are any post prednisone care. I feel like I just got fat and my skin look extremely bad. Muscles are weak. I just feel like I can't even exercise since I feel weak.
Kancer, prednisone can rob you of muscle and bone mass, so exercise is important, especially weight-bearing exercise. I lift weights regularly and that really helps me. Since you're feeling so weak, I'd encourage you to start out slowly and with very light weights - over time, you can increase the amount of weight you're lifting, the amount of time you're exercising, and the intensity of the exercise. But to start with, definitely start slowly and listen to your body and don't overdo things right away.

Walking is really good exercise as well and is very good for the gut. I try to take walks as often as I can. That should help with both the weakness and the excess weight (I have some excess weight from pred too).

My skin is also really bad because of pred. I have been getting a lot of pimples. I don't have an answer for that, as I've been trying a variety of skincare products but nothing has really helped very much.
 
Kancer, prednisone can rob you of muscle and bone mass, so exercise is important, especially weight-bearing exercise. I lift weights regularly and that really helps me. Since you're feeling so weak, I'd encourage you to start out slowly and with very light weights - over time, you can increase the amount of weight you're lifting, the amount of time you're exercising, and the intensity of the exercise. But to start with, definitely start slowly and listen to your body and don't overdo things right away.



Walking is really good exercise as well and is very good for the gut. I try to take walks as often as I can. That should help with both the weakness and the excess weight (I have some excess weight from pred too).



My skin is also really bad because of pred. I have been getting a lot of pimples. I don't have an answer for that, as I've been trying a variety of skincare products but nothing has really helped very much.


Hi Cat!

I have acne rosacea regardless of pred (lucky me!) and I find cetaphil very good :)
 

Cat-a-Tonic

Super Moderator
Thanks Soph! I'll give it a try! I've been trying a few Korean skincare products, and now my skin is super moisturized, but I'm still getting zits. Ugh. I seem to get them mostly whenever I change dosage of pred, whether I'm going up or down in dose, so I have just sort of accepted that it's something that happens with pred dose changes. But I'll definitely look for that product, thanks for the recommendation!
 
Thanks Soph! I'll give it a try! I've been trying a few Korean skincare products, and now my skin is super moisturized, but I'm still getting zits. Ugh. I seem to get them mostly whenever I change dosage of pred, whether I'm going up or down in dose, so I have just sort of accepted that it's something that happens with pred dose changes. But I'll definitely look for that product, thanks for the recommendation!


Yes I find the same with any pred dose changes! Cetaphil is very mild and so doesn't irritate already unhappy skin so it's great for when you're already having drama [emoji4]
 

Tony H

Well-known member
four days off prednisone and have a bad headache for the last two days but i dont care im not going back now
 

Tony H

Well-known member
over a week off prednisone and everything ok , I had bad headaches up until yesterday but today was good , apart from joint aches i'm feeling great , hopefully this will be my last post on this subject [emoji3]
 
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