Prednisone, Inhalers, And Antibiotics

[gdomaracki]

So ive been battling with severe bronchitis for two weeks and now ive developed broncular asthma. The er doc put me on prednisone and im pretty nervous about it seeing as there are serious ans side effects from it. What are your ecperiences from it? Ive only taken 20 mg once and Im wondering if I should not take anymore? Will it cause withdrawal symptoms if you only take it once?

[Tachy Phlegming]

It won't cause withdrawal if you take it once.

But the real question is, did it help? If it did, you might want to consider continuing it until your problem seems to go away (if indeed it does)(and without being nervous about it). If the problem doesn't go away on it, then you might consider using other methods to control the orthostatic problem so that your breathing is improved (your breathing can be really bad when your pressure and pulse are off forgetting whatever other problem they might think you have now.) If the prednisone doesn't help, ask them to think in another direcction.

What ANS effects concern you?

[jenwic]

I'd go ahead and use it if you had no side effects the other time. A lot of the side effects listed are for people who take it on a regular basis, not those who use it for a few days. How long are you supposed to take it? When I was on it for a bad cold, the only side effect I had was a few added beats occasionally. I kept taking it for the 5 days though because it really helped my breathing.

By the way, steroids take a few days to kick in and start helping (especially a steroid inhaler). My dr. wanted me to be on the steroid inhaler because the steroid is delivered straight to your lungs so the side effects are minimized. Very little of the drug goes through your whold body that way.

[Angelika_23]

My kids have asthma, and prednisone is an amazing thing to have when there are breathing problems. I would encourage you to take it unless you start seeing some negative side effects.

That being said, I don't tolerate it well because it makes my skin feel like I have the worst sunburn ever, yet I have no rash or anything. My doctor calls it Sunburn Skin. I will still take prednisone, because breathing trumps the sunburn skin any day.

Like you, (I think it is you...) I get recurrent bronchitis and it always hits me very hard. The bronchitis will actually worsen my POTS and I start to have many more falls. I am more afraid of bronchitis than I am of prednisone.

Good luck, and let us know how you are doing

Angela

[Friedbrain]

I used to get recurrent bronchitis-colds that seemed to always go to my lungs. I've learned that steroids help clear this up before it gets too bad. However, in the past, I did not have so many problems with my health otherwise, so I can't speak to how prednisone could affect your dysautonomia. I'm not familiar with the dose you would be taking, but tapering off is important, so make sure to ask about whether you should reduce by half and then half again for a certain number of days, etc. That can minimize the post-steroid crash.

[janiedelite]

I've been on prednisone for a chronic sinusitis (over 3 months now). I started at 40mg a day, now I'm down to 30mg a day and slowly weaning down. Yes it does have side effects, but for me the sinus pain has been so bad that it really interferes with my sleep. Also, the doc wanted to use it as a diagnostic tool. Anyway, only you and your doc can decide if it's worth the risk. As for me, I do have the jitteriness, trouble sleeping, munchies, etc. that occur with prednisone. But it also has actually ended up helping my fatigue somewhat (silver lining), and it really helps my back pain because of its antiinflammatory effects. This is the 3rd tapered dose trial of prednisone I've been on over the last 3 years.