Withdrawal misery :(

[kimmy86]

Hey all

I have come off prednisolene 7 days ago I felt ok at first but yesterday and today have felt awful! blinding headache, a rash all over my face and chest itchy sore eyes and pain...really bad pain in my stomach along with the loudest gurgling noises ever!! i have a stricture and am awaiting surgery for my 1st resection so the pain is worrying me a little! has anyone else had the same symptoms wen coming off pred and if so how long will it take for this rash to clear up? :depressed:

 

[Jennifer]

What dose did they take you off of and how long were you on that dose? That could be a sign of Acute adrenal crisis: http://adam.about.net/encyclopedia/infectiousdiseases/Acute-adrenal-crisis.htm

What did your doctor say about it? Contact your GI, GP and an ER doc as well to see if you need immediate care. If no one else has answers you could also ask a pharmacist but its likely they will tell you to see your doctor right away. Sounds like they dropped you too fast.

Here's info about Prednisone withdrawal: http://arthritis.about.com/od/prednisone/f/withdrawaltaper.htm

 

[kimmy86]

I have been tapering down since December went from 6 tablets a day then to 5 then 4 3 then down to 2 and stayed on 2 for about a month then went to 1 and then finished so I have slowly come off them I was told to come
off them by my surgeon because of my up and coming surgery but as they have give me no date still I am just feeling worse and worse they want me to stop my azathioprine also before surgery but as I don't no wen it's going to be I am scared to come off it in case I feel even worse than I do now

 

[Jennifer]

How many milligrams were the tablets? Why do they want you to stop the Azathioprine or the Prednisone for that matter? You can still taper off the Pred after surgery (which is what I had to do) and you can continue the Aza after surgery (I'm still taking 6MP after my resection as a maintenance drug). You still need to contact someone to talk about your withdrawal symptoms. You probably need to continue the Prednisone and taper slower with lower doses. This is a serious matter.

 

[kimmy86]

They were strict on telling me I had to totally stop the steroids 2 weeks before surgery they had to be completely out of my system! They have said the aza needs to be stopped 7 days before but that I will start it again after surgery as a maintenance drug. I think my tablets were 5mg!

 

[Jennifer]

But you said there's no date for the surgery yet so you could cut those 5mg tablets in half. I've even heard mention of 1mg tabs. Stopping too soon is serious business and puts your life in jeopardy. Never mind what they told you to do before (which makes no sense to me still), let someone know about your symptoms now (besides just this forum) so you can be sure that you'll be ok. I'm not kidding around.

 

[pielady72]

Hey all

I have come off prednisolene 7 days ago I felt ok at first but yesterday and today have felt awful! blinding headache, a rash all over my face and chest itchy sore eyes and pain...really bad pain in my stomach along with the loudest gurgling noises ever!! i have a stricture and am awaiting surgery for my 1st resection so the pain is worrying me a little! has anyone else had the same symptoms wen coming off pred and if so how long will it take for this rash to clear up? :depressed:

Hi! I am currently on prednisone (started at 40mg) decreased by 5mg every 7 days. When I got down to 15 mg I noticed I hurt all over and when I went down to 10 mg I noticed I felt fluish. I hurt all over, headaches, nausea and the gurgles like you are describing. I called my doctor and they just increased me to 15 mg and I am to take this for a week and decrease by 1/2 tablet every week after. I don't know how long you were on prednisone(I have been on it for almost 7 weeks) but I have been told that sometimes the weaning process can be terrible. It sounds to me like you need to call your doctor and get back on the prednisone even if it's a low dose because your body isn't producing enough cortisol yet which can put you in the hospital if left untreated. I also have the erythema nodosum spots which show up before and during a flare. I have been told my doctor's office the stomach flu is going around. I don't know what your rash is but I would get it looked at ASAP! Call your GI specialist as they would want to know what's going on with you, even if you can't get into them today. Get to someone today to look at your eyes and rash as that can't be let go! My stepson was on prednisone for crohn's and ended up with shingles twice and ended up in the hospital once for it,

 

[pielady72]

Please let me know how things go for you ok?