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Prednisone and exercise

Hi all,
I'm currently recovering from a pretty severe flare up of my UC (3 weeks in hospital). I'm taking 30mg prednisone and decreasing by 5mg each week.

I'm overweight and in the past I have put on a significant amount of weight while taking prednisone, mostly due to the insane hunger pains and turning to food for comfort during the savage mood swings. I'm trying to be strict with my diet but I want to start exercising again to help both stress management and also burning calories.

I was wondering if anybody has any advice for exercising while on prednisone? I hear it lowers protein in the body and can reduce bone density, should I avoid heavy weight lifting and running until I'm fully off the stuff? Or I am ok just to exercise as tolerated?

Thanks for your help.
 

Scipio

Well-known member
Location
San Diego
I was wondering if anybody has any advice for exercising while on prednisone? I hear it lowers protein in the body and can reduce bone density, should I avoid heavy weight lifting and running until I'm fully off the stuff? Or I am ok just to exercise as tolerated?
I suggest the latter. Unless you have been on the prednisone for a long time, your bones are probably not yet severely osteoporotic. And since the weight bearing exercise is known to build up bone density, the running and weight lifting would probably be a good idea. But as with any new exercise program it's a good idea to start low and slowly increase the duration and intensity as your fitness improves. Doing too much too soon can often result in injury, discouragement, and abandonment of the program.
 
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