Hey, are there any other moderate to severe persistent asthmatics out there? I was thinking it would be interesting to hear from other people who have to take prednisone on a frequent basis. Id like to know if others experience steroid psychosis the way I do. I know from years of working with asthmatics and COPD ‘ers that its pretty common
Right now my system is pretty clean ,except for trace amounts that I get from the inhaled variety. My last taper was 2 weeks ago so , I’m probably good to go for another month or two.
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I am a severe, chronic asthmatic. Became so at the age of 22, came on out of the blue, and has tried to kill me ever since. Actually succeded for quite a few second once in 1996, i spent an entire month in ICU, then a few more weeks in regular wards. NOT fun! I did the prednisone thing for quite a few years… until that too damaged too many areas of my life. They told me it would kill me if i quit… i said it is going to kill me in worse ways if i stayed on.
With prednisone… the side effects i have had are these..
1. Muscle swells that cut into the nerves and makes one about scream in agony.
2. My optic nerves swelled so badly that my vision was highly impared for a very long time. The normal treatment.. you guessed it.. prednisone.. but that is what caused it.. so they didn’t know what to do! It caused permenent problems with what they call floaters, so looks like something is coming at me now and then out of the corner of my eye, but it’s INSIDE of my eyes.
3. Weight issues.. don’t want to talk about it.. fighting it still.
4. Caused Deteriorating arthritis in both of my knees and hip. Guess what they normally treat this with? Prednisone. I said.. why would you treat somethign that causes something??
5. Caused Osteo necrosis (can only be gotten from prednisone) in my left knee.
6. Caused Avascular Necrosis (can only be gotten from prednisone) in my right knee.
Neither 4, 5 or 6 is reversable. Fun.
They told me i’d have only 5 years, at best, to walk. That was actually 7 years ago. I am now trying to walk daily on my treadmil for fitness as well as on my stationary bike. I have quite a bit of pain… but would rather have that and be out walking my husband and son.. than in a wheel chair.
My word… be careful of letting them pump that s**t into you! It causes kidney and liver problems. It causes joint problems. There are a great many of us who can tell you horrible tales of how it almost killed someone in one way or other, or seriously impared their lives for good.
I would never touch prednisone again unless i was in the ER and they shot me up with a little to get me by. That’s it! I was on big time with tapers here and there, always starting with 60 mg for over 5 years.. and that’s what it caused me.
For the asthma…i said in 96 i had complete lung failure. Asthma attack got so very bad that my lungs simply were so tired they gave up. When something like that happens, they tell your folks you aren’t likely to pull through. Get the religious person of your choice to come say goodbye to them sort of deal.
I wasn’t supposed to make it through the hour.. they kept me allive to say goodbye. Then through the night.. then through the next 24 hours.. 48.. 72.. week.. and so on. When i did get up they told me the likely hood of me living through the next year.. the odds were something like 90-10% the 10 being in favor of living. 😉 Living beyond 5 years is not likely either.. not many have ever made it to there.
What’s the year? 2006 baby! ha! So… don’t always believe you are going to die.. but get ones affairs in order just to make sure.
My husband and i were born and raised in Iowa.. and we left that state as there are simply far too many allergens in Farm states and we moved to Florida next to the ocean.
I was a once a month in the hospital gal. Using auto epi pens once a month and using my nebulizer weekly in Iowa to…
Using about 3 to 4 epi pens a year.. using my nebulilzer maybe 15 times a year.. and um… haven’t been to the emergency room the entire 9 years i have been down here. Came close… but the epi’s always get me back on track with the treatments. I dont’ want my email address on your web page.. but if you ever need to talk about horrible asthma.. i am more than willing to talk about it. I know the stigma’s behind it. Oh.. just use your inhaler.. as if it’s a fix all. Or how some people don’t think it’s real. . I’ll give you my off email.. one i don’t look at much if you want to use it to contact me.. as i don’t visit web pages much at all.. and probably won’t be back for yours as i just stumbled upon it by accident as i was looking up walking.
I am not a severe asthmatic (though I do suffer from mild asthma). However, I have been on prednisone (I believe it was as high as 15 mg a day taken orally) for extended periods of time, due to another condition (since resolved).
Over the course of my 20 months or so of taking the medicine, I experienced the weight gain. What was worse, in my opinion, was the mood swings, which my doctors attributed to the medicine. I’m just glad that I was not long enough to experience the damage that anonmymous related in his post.
It’s one of those medicines, according to the doctors I talked to, that works. The down side is that it wreaks havoc and staying on it for long periods of time seems make the utility of the drug have a point of diminishing returns. When I was at my worst with my condition, it was the only thing short of hospitalization that could buy my body the time to rally. But each time I went back on the drug, my body was paying for it in another way.
That’s my two cents on prednisone.