Side Effects Of Predisone

[looneymom]

If anyone is taking predisone, please be careful. Usually only high dosages of predisone cause the problems but some of my son's symptoms started increasing, The first time I started him on the Predisone, he started at 10mg and I started seeing some small changes. So our doctor told me to drop him back down to 5mg and things started to get a little better. My son was also taken down to 2 pex treatments a week and then we started seeing him slid back more. So our doctor moved him back up to 3 treatments a week but still was not see the improvement that we had seen the weeks before. So he decided to bump the predisone back up to 10 mg and things got worse.So predisone seems to be causing more problems than it's worth. Our doctor was hoping that if we had the bad antibodies under control than maybe the predisone could help with headache and scalp pain. Live and Learn!

Predisone is supposed to help inflammation in the body. However, since my son has high levels of dopmine and some other neurotransmiters/hormones out of balance, the predisone mostly likely made it worse. My son had a very hard time falling asleep at nigh and 3-4 charley horses a day. This last week, the doctor started lowering his pedisone dosage and since Thursday he has been off of it. Yesterday, my son only had one charley horse and he is finally falling asleep and staying asleep through the night. I also saw his tremors stop quicker after exercises yesterday. Yea! This mommy is so excited to see this happen. This what started happeing the first time before everything started going down hill again. During pex treatment on Friday, his lips do not go numb. Predisone will mess up calicum and D levels. His D levels did fall down some more but his doctor does think the Predisone is more responisble for this than pex treatments. Tyler is taking more vitamin D and his is taking it in 2 divided dosages. He is also getting 15 minutes of morning sun since the weather and temptures are cooperating.

Improvements are small but seem to be coming. When Tyler had his last appointment, our doctor said the treatments would need to be done for least 2 more months. I was thinking 8 weeks and that would include the 2 weeks he had already done. I got his new treatment schedule on Friday. These treatments will last until Dec 5th and then the doctor will reevaluate to see if 3 a week treatments need to continue.

Here are a couple articles on predisone and how it can affect the body. Thought they might be helpful to someone else.

http://www.dianafoundation.com/articles/df_04_article_01_steroids_pg01.html

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/a/a_08/a_08_m/a_08_m_dep/a_08_m_dep.html

[Katybug]

Hi Rachel,

You know, this post is making me think hard about Tyler's situation and prednisone. I know he doesn't have Lyme, but, Lyme Literate Doctors will not put chronic (or acute) Lyme patients on prednisone specifically because it suppresses the immune system and allows the Lyme spirocytes to run rampant and multiply out of control. I just makes me wonder why it's not contraindicated in Tyler's situation as I thought he has tested positive for some Mycoplasma and some other sort of chronic bacterial infection. Maybe I'm off base but it's something to think on.

When I finally found my Lyme doc many years ago, I had just finished (the week before) a pack of prednisone that an orthopedist had put me on because I had developed trigger fingers in all 10 of my fingers. It did fix the trigger finger (which is basically tendonitis in your fingers), but I felt otherwise even worse than I had been. The Lyme doc cringed when I told her I had taken the prednisone and said that's probably why I was feeling worse. She said the Lyme and Babesia were probably having a party in my body since my immune system had been suppressed for the better part of 2 weeks from the medrol pack. I'm not sure how mainstream this thinking is since Lyme docs tend to get the hairy eyeball from the rest of the medical community but I thought it was worth mentioning to you.

[looneymom]

Thanks Katie,

I didn't think about the mycoplasma bacteria. I will check with the doctor. That's a good point to consider. Our doctor is more concerned about the strep but I wonder how it would affect if it were present. I'll have to start doing some more research. I sure hope the predisone has not let the dormant viruses or bacteria infections come out to visit again. Predisone does supress the immune system. So far Tyler has not had any sickness since he has started the pex which I'm hoping is a good sign that his immune system is getting stronger.

[potsticker63]

If u look at other diseases where prednisone is prescribed to supress an autoimmune attack it can take up to 6 months