Steroids. could ER have given me too much?

[maggiesimpson]

I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice since I don't know a lot about steroids. Sunday night I had a serious allergic reaction to something, and my husband rushed me to the ER. We gave them my med info, and the doc said they would not give me a shot of prednisone since I already take 9mg budesonide, and she didn't want me to have too much. She also said the budesonide helped with the reaction not being worse. Made sense to us not to get the shot. Anyway, the different nurses kept giving me shots and doing stuff. They only told my husband what 1 of the 5 was. One of the nurses did give me a shot of prednisone without our knowledge.

Monday, I was sore all over and exhausted. That night at work I started having pain around my stomach, and it has only gotten worse since. I saw my doc this morning to go over a list of symptoms I've had since sunday, with the stomach being the biggest concern. He had a few ideas, but none were really supported by additional symptoms. I understand. He can't just order a bunch tests without enough basis for them. He is concerned with the amount of steroids and thinks that was too much and is probably upsetting my stomach.

So the antacids he's having me try are doing nothing. I have to follow up in the morning. My pain feels like it's around my stomach. Mostly the right side of it. It is really tender. Can't even rest my hand on it for more than a few seconds. Do any of you know if excess steroids can cause issues with the pancreas or gallbladder?

Thanks.

 

[afidz]

I did several different searches on google and some credible med websites and I couldn't find anything linking the steroids to pancreas or gall bladder issues. I also tried looking up drug interactions between prednisone and budesonide and didn't find anything there either. I would call the hospital and get the records from the E.R. so you can see what else you were given. I will give you the link to the web site I used to check drug interactions, save that it may be helpful in the future. I am also going to tag the admin Jennifer to see what she has to say about this. I hope that you start to feel better, and your doctor can figure out whats wrong soon
here is that link
http://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=431-0,1936-0

 

[Jennifer]

Hi maggiesimpson. Did the doctor you saw this morning get your info/results from the hospital you went to? Its hard to say what's going on with so little information for instance what dose of Prednisone were you given and what other medications did they give you while you were in the hospital? Also are you on any other medications besides Entocort? On a scale of 1-10 how bad is your pain? How would you describe your pain (dull, stabbing, burning etc)?

I've never had a nurse give me anything that wasn't ordered by the doctor. Often times they know what to give people but they wait until the doctor has ordered it. So I wouldn't be upset with the nurse just yet as the finger still points towards the ER doc no matter what sort of story they told you while they were briefly in the room with you.

Entocort and Prednisone can be taken together.

Yes both Entocort and Prednisone can cause pancreatitis.
http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-220...=22007&drugname=Entocort+EC+Oral&pagenumber=6
http://www.drugs.com/prednisone.html

Could also be a gallstone: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001318/

Keep us posted on your doctor visit tomorrow.

 

[maggiesimpson]

Thanks for responding, both of you. I guess I'm not really blaming anyone in the ER. It just gets so confusing with 10 different people coming into the room. I honestly wasn't sure which one was the doctor. Granted, I wasn't clear-headed at the time.

I was worried about the amount of steroids because my dr expressed concern. I had come across a small tidbit of info that morning that listed excess steroids as being damaging to the pancreas.

As of now, we do not know what is causing my pain, and there is nothing they can do to aleviate it right now. I am on percocet as needed, already. Lately, it has been making me sick, so I try to avoid it. I had my follow-up yesterday and spent 4 1/2 hrs at the clinic. This dr is amazing! I'm thinking of switching to him for my primary. Most docs will usually push me out the door after 15 minutes if they can't figure out what's wrong. This guy refused to give up. He kept looking at all my labs and even went into his database to investigate different things. He re-ran my bloodwork to see if it's changed since the ER visit. Everything's good except for slightly elevated liver enzymes. He was concerned about my gallbladder and that I may have stones.

An ultra sound was done, and they found nothing in my gallbladder but a two-inch(?) tumor on my liver. They then sent me for an MRI to get a better look. I now have to wait for the radiologist to look at it, and they might need to consult a specialist. My doc was asking the radiologist some questions about it, but no one wanted to really say anything until after they look at the MRI.

This is normally an incidental finding, and most people don't feel a thing. It is not cancer, but some other type of lump. My doc is hopeful that this is what is causing my pain because otherwise we have nowhere else to look. The thinking is that when I had epinephrine in the ER, and that stuff gives you a good case of the shakes, that maybe it bounced my liver lump enough to bump into other internal organs. It might be hitting my gallbladder and causing the pain that way. He said that if it continues to grow, I may need to have surgery at some point. I'm thinking that if it is what's causing the pain, I might have to have it taken out for that because there is no way to treat it that I am aware of.

Thanks again. I was in exruciating pain last night and realized that this place would be a great area to ask questions. You guys know so much! I am just starting to learn.:worthy:

 

[afidz]

I hope good news comes back from the radiologist, and that news leads to alleviating your pain.
I didn't know ANYTHING before I joined this forum. Jennifer took me under her wing and taught me so much. It really is a great resource for us!
Sounds like the dr at the clinic really has a passion for his job, there are very few of those type of doctors out there. I would switch if I was in your shoes, but then again, I don't know anything about your current doctor.
Hope everything starts getting better, I look forward to getting to know eachother!

 

[maggiesimpson]

Afidz and Jennifer,
I meant to follow-up sooner. I know that it is really helpful for others reading posts and looking for their own answers, and it is always nice when there is an update or something about finding an answer or solution to the initial problem. So, this is where I stand.

I finally had to call the clinic to get my MRI results on Thursday, a week after the test. The doctor thought I already knew the results, probably because the clinic is one that uses online patient portals and sends test results that way. Mine never came. Anyway, I have a focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH). Trying to research it myself didn't satisfy my need for information because everything I found is contradictory. These typically don't have any symptoms or cause problems, so doctors (especially those who don't know much about them) don't want to do anything to treat it. I have found plenty of people who are in the same boat. They are in a lot of pain and not getting help. I'm stuck dealing with the pain, and it sucks. It drains all my energy when it flairs up.

At this point, I am going to try to find a doctor who knows about FNH and see if I can get a second opinion on treatment options. Thanks again for everything.

 

[Jennifer]

I don't know if you've looked at this already or not but it may help some: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2043107/ Thank you for updating.