Prednisone and mood
- Thread starter FrancisK7
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Does it get better as you get more resistant? Or is there no such thing as steroid resistance? It's my third day on it and every day the mood swings come in.
My doctor is unlikely to be helpful with this. He's very... rigid.
I had attributed the mood swings to the prednisone but wanted to confirm whether this had an effect on other people as well.
My doctor is unlikely to be helpful with this. He's very... rigid.
I had attributed the mood swings to the prednisone but wanted to confirm whether this had an effect on other people as well.
I am dealing with this as well. I've gotten better in everyday things but unexpected things I can't handle very well. Heart racing, shaking, hot flashes.... I've been on it for a couple months, tapering down. I am supposed to lower to 20mg tomorrow (I've come down from 40mg). There is no doubt it is the prednisone.
Today I totally went Chuck Norris on my assistant. And I love the guy! I was working in the studio, he came to me while I was in the middle of something and I snapped. It's like I had been bottling anger and frustration for three days (ever since I started pred) and it felt like a gasket exploded.
I felt so bad I apologized an hour later and paid Starbucks to the whole crew. They've been good to me, considering my situation.
Even if I know the pred is responsible for those feelings I still need to consciously inhibit them and it's exhausting at the end of the day. Drugs are no excuse for snapping at your coworkers or your employees but the energy invested in keeping the mood swings at bay is draining the entire battery.
To be honest I'm giving pred another week and if the mood swings persists I'm calling it off.
My better half has been so patient with me as well. I love her tremendously for putting up with my temper. I try to avoid social contact and isolate myself in my office with soothing music when the urge to break a window occurs.
I can easily compensate for my irritability by increasing my daily dose of MJ, but then I'm not angry because I'm stoned. I've been on a daily vaporization regimen for months and have built an excellent resistance to the psychotropic effetcs of THC. I can function normally without any impairment. So sure, I can vaporize more, but then I'm drowsy and not as efficient in my work. I'm very lucky to work from home.
I suppose I can keep taking the pred and try to find a dose of MJ that doesn't make me sleepy but that reduces the mood swings too.
I'll let you guys know if I find a good middle ground.
I felt so bad I apologized an hour later and paid Starbucks to the whole crew. They've been good to me, considering my situation.
Even if I know the pred is responsible for those feelings I still need to consciously inhibit them and it's exhausting at the end of the day. Drugs are no excuse for snapping at your coworkers or your employees but the energy invested in keeping the mood swings at bay is draining the entire battery.
To be honest I'm giving pred another week and if the mood swings persists I'm calling it off.
My better half has been so patient with me as well. I love her tremendously for putting up with my temper. I try to avoid social contact and isolate myself in my office with soothing music when the urge to break a window occurs.
I can easily compensate for my irritability by increasing my daily dose of MJ, but then I'm not angry because I'm stoned. I've been on a daily vaporization regimen for months and have built an excellent resistance to the psychotropic effetcs of THC. I can function normally without any impairment. So sure, I can vaporize more, but then I'm drowsy and not as efficient in my work. I'm very lucky to work from home.
I suppose I can keep taking the pred and try to find a dose of MJ that doesn't make me sleepy but that reduces the mood swings too.
I'll let you guys know if I find a good middle ground.
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2012
- Messages
- 141
haha welcome to the world of Prednisone! i swear some days i would laugh one minute and the next someone would breath load and i wanted to smack them. I did a post about what prednisone is all about and collected a bunch of crohnies input on what it is like to be on crohns.. check it out bc you are not alone! 
http://www.myjourneywithcrohns.com/2012/11/all-about-prednisone.html
http://www.myjourneywithcrohns.com/2012/11/all-about-prednisone.htmlI'm only on pred until I start Imuran. I've been waiting on TMPT activity precusor test results for over 4 weeks. My doc says it takes 30 business days for the results to arrive.
As soon as these are in I can start Imuran and ACTUALLY treat the disease. We're just treating the symptoms right now. I've been flaring since March 2012 but it got worse two weeks ago.
He didn't want to put me on Remicade right away because he said it was "an extreme treatment that we only give to terminal patients when everything else has failed." I looked at him incredulously and asked "Why?"
I started laughing. I went to medschool from 2006 until 2009. It doesn't make me an expert, certainly not compared to my GI's 36 years of practice experience, but I know enough about medicine to know there's nothing terminal about a treatment like Remicade. The side effects compared to Imuran are basically the same, they're both immunosuppressors after all.
He didn't want to answer my question, he kept saying "because it's the protocol."
Protocols are established by the Public Health Office in each province in Canada. They follow the guidelines offered by Health Canada and the order of each medical specialty, but the protocol recommends Imuran before Remicade not because it's better, but because it's cheaper.
So I nagged the poor doc again about the protocol, and he finally admitted the real reason, which we all know already of course.
"Because it costs 1000$ per injection," he said.
Imho, 1000$ per injection at 6 injections per year is nothing. I could afford to pay it out of pocket myself. But that's not the point, and even if wanted to pay it myself, the system doesn't allow me to do that. It's illegal.
I don't mind taking Imuran. It's just a pill. If it works fine too, all the better. But when a patient is flaring and has 10 bloody stools a day, and is allergic to 5-ASA, it behooves oneself to think the treatment that is most efficient in treating the disease should be applied. Afterall, the more expediently the disease is treated, the faster the flare will stop. There's no doubt Remicade works faster and better than Imuran. It's in the literature.
So why is it in 2013 in a modern country protocols still prioritize budgetary constraints (and doesn't allow the patient to legally help absorb the costs if he can) over the actual best course of treatment? Drove me mad in medschool and is one of the reasons I dropped out.
My GI just said "C'est la vie!" If I had private insurance I might have been able to push for Remicade. I understand the rationale that if Imuran works just as well and is cheaper, it's the proper route, but Remicade doesn't work just as well, it works better.
In retrospect I know I am already very lucky to get treatment compared to some poor unfortunate souls in the US, so I should't complain so much.
At least I can blame the pred tonight
As soon as these are in I can start Imuran and ACTUALLY treat the disease. We're just treating the symptoms right now. I've been flaring since March 2012 but it got worse two weeks ago.
He didn't want to put me on Remicade right away because he said it was "an extreme treatment that we only give to terminal patients when everything else has failed." I looked at him incredulously and asked "Why?"
I started laughing. I went to medschool from 2006 until 2009. It doesn't make me an expert, certainly not compared to my GI's 36 years of practice experience, but I know enough about medicine to know there's nothing terminal about a treatment like Remicade. The side effects compared to Imuran are basically the same, they're both immunosuppressors after all.
He didn't want to answer my question, he kept saying "because it's the protocol."
Protocols are established by the Public Health Office in each province in Canada. They follow the guidelines offered by Health Canada and the order of each medical specialty, but the protocol recommends Imuran before Remicade not because it's better, but because it's cheaper.
So I nagged the poor doc again about the protocol, and he finally admitted the real reason, which we all know already of course.
"Because it costs 1000$ per injection," he said.
Imho, 1000$ per injection at 6 injections per year is nothing. I could afford to pay it out of pocket myself. But that's not the point, and even if wanted to pay it myself, the system doesn't allow me to do that. It's illegal.
I don't mind taking Imuran. It's just a pill. If it works fine too, all the better. But when a patient is flaring and has 10 bloody stools a day, and is allergic to 5-ASA, it behooves oneself to think the treatment that is most efficient in treating the disease should be applied. Afterall, the more expediently the disease is treated, the faster the flare will stop. There's no doubt Remicade works faster and better than Imuran. It's in the literature.
So why is it in 2013 in a modern country protocols still prioritize budgetary constraints (and doesn't allow the patient to legally help absorb the costs if he can) over the actual best course of treatment? Drove me mad in medschool and is one of the reasons I dropped out.
My GI just said "C'est la vie!" If I had private insurance I might have been able to push for Remicade. I understand the rationale that if Imuran works just as well and is cheaper, it's the proper route, but Remicade doesn't work just as well, it works better.
In retrospect I know I am already very lucky to get treatment compared to some poor unfortunate souls in the US, so I should't complain so much.
At least I can blame the pred tonight
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2011
- Messages
- 300
Is there a different strain of MJ that might give you better results? I have a son in Colorado who is a 70% disabled veteran, and he has been educating me on some of the effects of the different strains as he learns since the legalization. I'm old school. If it was weed, we smoked it lol.
I'm the exact same way.
I just started back up on Prednisone on Saturday. The mood is the worst side for me. Every little thing aggrivates me. I'm not sure if I was always this much of a dick while on it, or that it's just that I now realize how bad I get.
It sucks, I know I'm being an ass and I try to control it, but have a really hard time.
I feel bad for my wife, for having to put up with me.
I just started back up on Prednisone on Saturday. The mood is the worst side for me. Every little thing aggrivates me. I'm not sure if I was always this much of a dick while on it, or that it's just that I now realize how bad I get.
It sucks, I know I'm being an ass and I try to control it, but have a really hard time.
I feel bad for my wife, for having to put up with me.
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2013
- Messages
- 31
When I was on prednisone, I was horrible, the littlest things would make me snap, such as dropping something. I was very emotional, I was either yelling or crying constantly for no reason. but once I started decreasing the amount of steroids I was on my mood eventually got better.
I was on prednisone for 3 months after I was first diagnosed in August 2012 and again for about a month during flare ups in November and March.
Prednisone turns me into a monster. No sleep, aggression to others and if I started crying I couldn't stop. Also I had moonface or puffiness in my cheeks and prednisone helped me stack on 20kg in 6 weeks or so as I was CONSTANTLY starving and in too much muscle/joint pain to exercise.
My GI prescribed a different steroid-like medication called Entocort (budesonide). This was effective at reducing UC symptoms and had less effect on my mental health but its not covered by the health system in Australia so it set me back about $250 for a month's worth.
I also had problems starting remicade. I had a surgical consult and there was serious discussion about heading down that path before I insisted we try something else first. I was told this was because of the severity of the potential side effects. Who knows. Remicade seems to work for me though its chewing through my sick/annual leave having a whole day off every 8 weeks.
Prednisone turns me into a monster. No sleep, aggression to others and if I started crying I couldn't stop. Also I had moonface or puffiness in my cheeks and prednisone helped me stack on 20kg in 6 weeks or so as I was CONSTANTLY starving and in too much muscle/joint pain to exercise.
My GI prescribed a different steroid-like medication called Entocort (budesonide). This was effective at reducing UC symptoms and had less effect on my mental health but its not covered by the health system in Australia so it set me back about $250 for a month's worth.
I also had problems starting remicade. I had a surgical consult and there was serious discussion about heading down that path before I insisted we try something else first. I was told this was because of the severity of the potential side effects. Who knows. Remicade seems to work for me though its chewing through my sick/annual leave having a whole day off every 8 weeks.
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2013
- Messages
- 9
That's one of the worst side effects. Dammit, it seems to me that Prednisone made more more harm than good after all )) I was moody pretty much all the time and my face ballooned and I looked like a fat loser. It made me even more aggressive and anxious.
