I have Prednisone RRRAAAAAAAAGGGGE!

[midnight armadillo]

Fuck me, but Prednisone is one nasty drug. I am on a huge dose (starting to taper tomorrow) due to an allergic reaction last weekend. It is making me insane. I could barely stay in my own skin this afternoon and it's making me ridiculously aggressive and sort of manic. I will avoid caffeine tomorrow I think that seriously amped me over the edge today.

My son took this drug when he was 2 due to a food allergy and it made him start throwing kitchen chairs (yes, at age 2!). Now I understand a bit why it had such a drastic effect on him.

[mopinko]

1. the most sucky thing is that you can't just quit.

you have to taper down, and can't just throw the fucking pills out the window.

[midnight armadillo]

2. Amen

I think if the tapering wasn't starting tomorrow I'd be throwing chairs around myself. Or perhaps hunting down the squirrel in my attic with my bare hands.

And don't worry, it is a real squirrel who broke in up there, not a hallucination :)

[busybl]

19. True, quitting cold turkey is something you don't want to do

One doctor took me off in just 8 days. Pain you wouldn't believe, hallucinations and other fun things.
I fired him and got a different one.

[LearnedHand]

3. Fucking POISON shit

I had to take high doses for more than a year because of weird chronic hives. Fucked me up BAD BAD BAD. I'm very sympathetic, and it made me rage too. Good luck getting off it.

[madinmaryland]

4. Nice post, Barry Bonds!

:hide:

[dysfunctional press]

5. i'm on alternate-day therapy with prednisone...

it started with 50mg/day for 5 days, then 40 for 5 days...30...20...10...and then finally to a maintenance dose of 10mg every other day.

but- when the pharmacist gave me my refill- it was done to the original script...so instead of getting 15 pills, i got 100- which will end up lasting 6 months instead of 1.

[XemaSab]

6. Asthma/allergy meds

will fuck your shit up. :(

[Capn Sunshine]

10. I took this one med for asthma, One of the side effects was "Death by Asthma"

So to feel a little better, I'm at risk for death? WTF.

[XemaSab]

11. Seriously

:(

[Pithlet]

7. I had to take it once for severe poison ivy.

It is nasty. I sympathize.

[valerief]

22. Me, too. My head blew up like a Macy's Day Parade balloon. nt

[hunter]

8. That's my favorite med.

At first it's always like, wow, so this is what it feels like not to have allergies, not to have painful joints, not to feel so dragged down...

Then after a few days I'm off vacationing in an alternate reality, not aggressive, but most certainly manic.

Modern asthma meds are wonderful, my asthma hasn't gotten out of control for many years now and I haven't had to take Prednisone for a long time. But man, the asthma meds I used to take were crazy. I'd walk out of the hospital after a bad spell of asthma entirely whack. And the ten day Prednisone prescription in my pocket was like a ticket to another universe.

[XemaSab]

12. What meds are you on now?

:shrug:

[hunter]

16. Inhaled steroids.

Not nearly so bad as the oral steroids & theophylline which I had to take in the bad old days.

I've still got allergy problems of all sorts and I still must carefully avoid the worst of my triggers but at least I can reliably breathe now.

I hate asthma.

[XemaSab]

17. Pulmicort?

I'm on Pulmicort and Singulair, and it's under control.

Theophylline is no-one's friend. x(

[midnight armadillo]

27. I took Theophylline as a kid

I had to get weekly blood tests for a long time to make sure it wasn't killing my liver. The dose used to make me so jittery and jumpy I hated the stuff but I needed to breath. Fortunately, for the most part, trumpet playing & sports as a kid followed by adulthood & sports keeps me asthma free 99% of the time, so that I barely remember to keep an inhaler in the house.

[latebloomer]

9. I had to be on it for well over a year

Messed with my moods and sleep patterns.

Worse, it contributed to cataracts and osteoporosis. Evil drug.

[1gobluedem]

13. I know what you're going through

I have four more days of a 16 day dose left (terrible hand eczema that wouldn't heal). It's made me cranky, puffy, and given me outrageous hot flashes. And I got in an argument with a cop the day after I started taking it; I never do things like that.

Can't wait until the dosage runs out on Saturday.

[midnight armadillo]

15. I had lunch and broke into a sweat!

While sitting down to lunch with a heart rate of 110 bpm (my normal rate is 60) I ate, and then promptly broke into a sweat and had to lay down for a while.

I had to send out a round of apology emails this morning after a conference call last night found me being a weee little aggressive with my co-workers. Sheesh.

At least I'm not dead of anaphylactic shock...

[sasquatch]

14. Oh yeah, you'll also eat like a horse too

[Raffi Ella]

20. yeah

My Vet put my dog on it when she got cancer to help the lymph nodes go down and so she'd eat. She really did start eating A LOT after just a couple of days on it.

[busybl]

18. males react to prednisone sometimes with rage

I'm female and have been taking it for 15 yrs, 20 mgs a day. This is truly the wonder drug from hell.
It does what it's supposed to, but the long term effects are hideous.
There was a film in the 50s with James Mason and he was taking this miracle drug. Worked great at first but he
turned psychotic. I only saw this last year and was stunned to find out the drug was prednisone.

[valerief]

23. I LOVE James Mason. Found the film. Bigger Than Life. Thanks. nt

[valerief]

21. Now you know what PMS is like at its worst. Good luck. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. I was on it for a couple of years as a kid. Plus side, it saved me from having to wear

a colostomy bag, but down side is it probably didn't help my bipolar disorder any.

[applegrove]

25. I was on it once years ago when I was a waitress. My boss laughed at me because he said

I had suddenly become a super fast waitress on the drug. LOL!

[Whoa_Nelly]

26. My older sister has been on Prednisone since last spring

due to a rare disorder called pemphigus vulgaris.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemphigus

She reported to me about a week ago that she's finally down to just 5 mg. day, and on another drug that is helping to manage this condition.

Have also taken Prednisone four times in the past three years for short term assist with reigning in idiopathic hives out of control...and am with you, m a...hate it!

hang in there...am glad you get to taper off and move back toward having normal days again. :hug:

[frogmarch]

28. My gentle, mild-mannered husband

flipped his cork when he was on it. I didn't know who he was anymore. He stomped around the house and kicked furniture, threw things, and even yelled at Democrats who were on TV. After he was off it for a while, he became his sweet, happy self again. I found out not long ago that he'd contemplated suicide when he was taking it. Yikes!

[SeattleGirl]

29. Sorry it's having that effect on you.

My husband has to go on prednisone occasionally when his allergies get completely out of hand, but he's never had an aggressive reaction to it. Hopefully avoiding caffeine and starting to taper will help a lot.

[rurallib]

30. Whoa - didn't know it was so mean

I used to get it before giving white cells
All I remember is that I could breath instead of being all stuffy and I would talk to anything. Just jabber, jabber, jabber.