- Joined
- Sep 8, 2013
- Messages
- 72
I was originally diagnosed with Crohn's in 2006, but not realizing the importance of continuing maintenance meds, I stopped Asacol once I was in remission. No issues or occurrences until May of this year.
After feeling like garbage for a month, random joint pain, diarrhea 6-8 times/day (which, after reading this forum, seems pretty insignificant since some of you are going 20-30 times/day), and some erythema nodosum, I was referred to a new GI and on August 7, a colonoscopy determined that my Crohns had surfaced.
According to my GI, the Crohns is in all parts of my colon and some of my small intestine. He put me on 40 mg of Prednisone & Lialda. Everything is much better.
I know Prednisone is a nightmare drug. However, it's messing with my emotional/mental state to such a degree that my job is suffering. Additionally, I sweat buckets...night, day, inside, outside, a/c...doesn't matter. Always sweating. Not to mention, I've become completely reliant on Ambien to slelep. Lastly, I've gained 15 pounds in one month - and since I'm already in the "morbidly obese" range, this is not a good gain.
So, I talked to the GI today and told them my issues. Said I could handle everything else, but the fact that my job is at risk takes precedence over the Crohns. I'm the bread-winner of my family. I can't lose my job over this. The symptoms that I had in May-June were way less significant than the side effects that I have from the Prednisone.
So, tomorrow I'll start tapering. GI usually likes to taper in 10 mg increments at 7-day intervals, but they've allowed me to go 5-days before I switch. I tried to bump down to 30 about 10 days ago, but my stools lost their form, so the Dr bumped me back up to 40.
I'll be starting Humira in a week or so - but wanted to know if anyone else has had to quit Pred early? How soon can I expect the side effects from the Pred to go away? Any advice is very appreciated. Thank you.
After feeling like garbage for a month, random joint pain, diarrhea 6-8 times/day (which, after reading this forum, seems pretty insignificant since some of you are going 20-30 times/day), and some erythema nodosum, I was referred to a new GI and on August 7, a colonoscopy determined that my Crohns had surfaced.
According to my GI, the Crohns is in all parts of my colon and some of my small intestine. He put me on 40 mg of Prednisone & Lialda. Everything is much better.
I know Prednisone is a nightmare drug. However, it's messing with my emotional/mental state to such a degree that my job is suffering. Additionally, I sweat buckets...night, day, inside, outside, a/c...doesn't matter. Always sweating. Not to mention, I've become completely reliant on Ambien to slelep. Lastly, I've gained 15 pounds in one month - and since I'm already in the "morbidly obese" range, this is not a good gain.
So, I talked to the GI today and told them my issues. Said I could handle everything else, but the fact that my job is at risk takes precedence over the Crohns. I'm the bread-winner of my family. I can't lose my job over this. The symptoms that I had in May-June were way less significant than the side effects that I have from the Prednisone.
So, tomorrow I'll start tapering. GI usually likes to taper in 10 mg increments at 7-day intervals, but they've allowed me to go 5-days before I switch. I tried to bump down to 30 about 10 days ago, but my stools lost their form, so the Dr bumped me back up to 40.
I'll be starting Humira in a week or so - but wanted to know if anyone else has had to quit Pred early? How soon can I expect the side effects from the Pred to go away? Any advice is very appreciated. Thank you.
