Prednisone Reviews

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I have had ulcerative colitis since I was 25 years old. The doctors started me out on antibiotics. Then we progressed to sulfa salazine, then asacol and finally to 50 mg of prednisone. I had weight gain, I had the moon face, horrible acne, hair falling out,testicles shrunk, impotence,and oh mood swings so bad that I had armed police at the door with helmets and batons. They unclipped their glocks!! Throughout this whole time, not one doctor talked to me about diet. I am now soon to be 59 years old.. What I would like to say to help Somebody else with this disease, is to first get rid of ANYTHING in your diet that might cause the body to have an inflammatory response. Just like regular people can some times have a problem with shrimp or nuts or whatever. We who have this disease have an improper autoimmune response. I personally have given up gluten, shellfish and pork. I also avoid canned or processed foods. This is not a cure, however I have reduced my colitis flares greatly. I used to go to the toilet 20-30 times a day. I now go 2-3 times a day when it doesn't flare. I also take enteric coated probiotics, and I take solgar curumin every dayit is a natural antiinflammatory with no side effects. Doctors have done more harm to me than anybody or anything, be proactive with your diet, it is the key. Doctors are not evil they are ignorant, they are only taught to write prescriptions. This is your body. not theirs. Get as healthy as you can, and live life. Be well Anthony w. Casino.
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I have had UC since 2003... Prednisone has been great for stopping a flare...starting as high as 60mgs and tapering over 4-6 weeks.
Side effects are really tough ... they are hard on your body and your mind/moods and as well... make you feel like crap:))

Had ulcerative colitis for 19 years, I have had several flares over the years and been put on steroids which have always brought me out. I normally have a 6 week course tapering down to nothing then going on to Balsalazide or pentasa to the next flare

Takes away the UC but with miserable side effects: Moon face, hunger, hair loss, feel drugged energy, not good.

Worked to help me get out of a flare. Helped my mood, too, but it's miserable if you're on it too long.

After being diagnosed about 7 years ago I had my first dose of life with colitis. I was just having my first colonoscopy because that’s whats recommended. Dr. Said I had colitis and should be treated. Nothing more was said. I bled for three years until I finally had to have hip surgery. I had two treatments of prednisone but the NP would only allow me to be on it for two weeks. Kept telling her it started to work but I need it longer then two weeks. She wouldn’t ok it for any longer. Needless to say I would start bleeding again. It was my third dose of prednisone again and I was scheduled for hip surgery, I told the surgeon I was on prednisone and he said that’s fine, keep taking it because I’m going to put you on it right after your surgery anyway. So I finished my last pill the day before surgery and of course another two weeks after surgery proved me right because for the first time in three years I FINALLY stopped bleeding! I was free from bleeding for three years until I was under severe stress and boom, another flare. By passed the NP and went right to my Dr. told him a month on prednisone worked beautifully the last time and that’s exactly what he did. Worked perfectly for me with no side effects, other then a little weight gain and no bleeding since December of 2018.

I’ve had prednisone for each flare and it works for me. Had trouble tapering off so went gluten free and not looked back, as I’ve been flare free for3 years since then. This year I got a campylobacter infection probably food poisoning and was told it’s bacterial infection and UC together. After 3 weeks of diarrhoea I got antibiotics and this fixed the diarrhoea. Not bleeding so much as with a regular uc flare, tho colonoscopy confirmed it. Then high dose prednisone 80 mg tapering down over 8 weeks. I’m only 70 kg so that’s a lot. Side effects were sleeplessness, wired, lots of energy, joint pain relief, mood swings, anxiety, dry hands, split skin on fingers, eczema on fingers. To avoid previous side effect with athletes foot I took special care and used tea tree foot lotion which worked well and is a nice treat every morning after showering. After tapering off the joint pain and stiffness is back, sleep slowly getting back to normal but more tired, lack energy, mood swings more depressed, brain fog. But still gf and still no uc recurrence.

Prednisone was one of the most effective medications that I have used for getting my UC symptoms under control and stopping flare-ups. Unfortunately the side effects can be pretty major and must be taken into consideration. The excessive weight gain happened in bizarre places (my cheeks, above my knees, mid-section), increased anxiety, sleep disruption, thinning of skin and bones over time, etc. It is definitely a double-edged sword.

Prednisone was the first medicine I started when I was first diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2009. I did not see any results with it so Lialda was added. I still did not see results so I stopped the prednisone and have not tried it since.

Prednisone is what I use if I have a major flare to quickly get back under control. It works so fast and completely and makes me feel very energetic and on top of the world. But I hate to have to take it because I get the "moon-face" and gain weight in general. Also get a fatty lump on my upper back, lower neck which is gross.

Oh, the sweet and quick recovery! I’ve never had side effects, so for me, this has always been the go to source of relief. Quick and effective.

I was prescribed prednisone for the third time during a current flare up. It has been three years since I was last on prednisone.

It took about 10 days to fully work although it did calm the flare in a few days. I am on a 8 week taper currently (reduce by 5mg per week; started at 40 mg). I’m lucky that the side effects haven’t been terrible. Some sleepless at night and occasional heart burn.

I keep prednisone in stock to help with flares. I have taken as much as 40 mg for a really bad flare, but usually take 20 mg and taper off over 3-4 weeks. On this dose I have energy but not jitters, no swelling or weight gain. My doctor tries to dissuade me from taking it but it works so well. I don’t see what the fuss is about

Worse drug I’ve ever taken, with in a couple of day I was violently sick with major sweats, was then told to cut the dose right down and given another drug that’s normally used for gout to take with it all I can say is I thought I was going to die. it was that bad.
So the Crohn’s medical doctor took me straight of it.

Prednisone has saveed my colon and brought me back from 3 severe flares, so that part I love. However in order to do it I have had to take high doses for longer than normal times. My doctor has warned me about side effects and long term potential issues. I tore a bicep muscle about 3 years ago and I believe that the prednisone had a lot to do with that. That along with a damaged shoulder caused me to have to have shoulder surgery, but that is something I'll take over having colon surgery.

Been on for 37 years. Varying doses. Life saver for me. I would recommend

Although Prednisone May have side effects like “Moon-Face” etc, it helped me tremendously during three different flare ups!! I dealt with the effects in order to have the improvement !!!

Prednisone did nothing for my flare but make me nauseous and fatter because I wanted to eat to help the nausea.

Devils drug. Crazy side effects. Love the moon face. Too many problems to list BUT it always takes the edge off my flare luckily. Don’t mind being on it for 5 days, but anything after 5 days and hell breaks loose while taming the flare at the same time. I wish there wasn’t so many side effects to it as it seems to work.

Although it made me irritate it worked very well I speeding up my recovery. My doctor sent me an email for work explaining my actions cannot be held against me and is a side affect of medication. My wife wasn't real happy with me but we got thru it. I was on a high dosage for about 9 months. Helps energy. Helps clear your mind.... Mine was super foggy after I nearly bled out. Stayed that way until the steroids kicked In. It worked for me. I'd take them again if needed.

Prednisolone gives me DVT within 4 days of being on it. The clots caused full-blown DVT the first time i was put on them. The symptoms started after 4 days again the second time, but this time I stopped taking them immediately. I refuse to touch them now. It's listed as a side-effect, but one they don't tell about. Crohn's already puts you at a higher risk of getting clots as it is!

If there was ever a movie about prednisone, it would be called The Almost Living Dead. Fortunately I don't remember too much about the 2 months I was on it. It should be called zombie in a pill. I still keep a few on my computer desk so every once in a while I can mutter a few old sailor oaths at it. I still have leaky gut but am just about in remission.

Predisone is a horrible drug. Yeah sure there are ways to deal with symptoms and sometimes I give in and take one usually at 2 am. I hate the heat flashes more then anyrhing. Doesn't help my appetite any which really sucks. But I gotta say thank you to Judith Pausina "predisone worse then the disease" 2014. I've been reading through everyone's complaints and b4 that I read an email about genetics and uc. I have had an over active immune system my entire life could be genetics but everyone has the potential of it, or an under active immune system. However processed foods is a huge culprit. I also had an injury to my neck at birth which could also have a lot to do with it. But as I'm reading I'm wondering why isn't anyone saying anything about their immune system. ..do they not realize this is a major cause of any form of IBD. Thank you Judith for saying it..stable your immune system get off all medications. I'm almost there..my down fall though is nicotine (stimulant) and to much caffeine(stimulant). And another thing' stimulants not only irritate the bowls it activates the immune system along with stress.

Have had colitis for 26 years and avoided taking prednisone during my initial flare ups because I was afraid (from all the horror stories you read about). But please -- if you are suffering from IBD, you owe it to yourself to at least try it. Prednisone always works quickly -- within a day or 2 -- to calm down my flares. My bleeding stops within days, and I feel so much better. My doctor usually starts me at 40mg, tapering by 10mg every 2 weeks. Yes -- there are side effects. I am lucky in that I do not have too many negative effects. My husband tells me that I get "a little aggressive" and I do notice that I have snapped angrily at telemarketers on the phone or at bad customer service folks, which is not like me at all! I also get very hungry and tend to gain maybe 5-10 pounds, but there are ways to help control the weight gain. Cut out extra salt. No more Lay's potato chips! I try to eat lots of fresh fruit and veggies and even when I'm exhausted, I try to take short walks to keep my metabolism going. This really helps to control the hunger and bloat. You might get a bit of a moon face, but it goes away eventually, and I'd rather have moon face then the blood and pain. Please don't let bad reviews freak you out -- at least try it. It's not a long-term solution, but it sure helps me to get my life back on track.

The first time I was on prednisone was after a flare up in 2014. At that time It was discovered that my colitis had progressed and I needed to start prednisone to get the flare up under control. I started a 8 week course at 40 mg and tapered down 5 mg per week. This worked very well for me and I stayed in remission for a year in a half. ( I am also on Salofalk 500 mg tablets 4000 mg per day and 1000mg suppository).



My second go around with prednisone has been less successful and I am currently having difficulty tapering off successfully without symptoms coming back. I started off at 40 mg and got down to 20 with occasional symptoms creeping back,by the time I was down to 10 mg I was in trouble again. I am back up to 15 mg and tapering down 2.5 mg every 3 weeks now. I've had occasional bleeding (1-2 per week).



In summary, I think prednisone is good at knocking down the symptoms quickly, but getting off of it can be difficult and my GI doctor has stated he doesn't want me to become dependent on steroids either.

I've been lucky in that I have had no severe side effects from the drug except sleeplessness when I was on 40-35 mg of prednisone.

I take 10mg of prednisone after each Remicade infusion for 10 days. It helps keep the joint pain down. Since it's a low dosage, I don't see many bad side effects as you get when its a higher dosage. I do get irritable during this 10 day period and anxiety. Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep but once I'm sleeping, I'm fine as long as I don't have to wake up to an alarm clock in the morning. I do have acne and back acne that I can't get rid of. The drug works very fast to relieve joint paint. I have also found I have a drug interaction with antibiotics and remicade. When this happened, all my back and neck muscles start freezing up and I turn into a cripple within a few hours. Once I take prednisone and go to sleep, I wake up like nothing was wrong the night before.

Would like to say that i am a scots guy living + working near gothenburg, Sweden, 57 years old and in nov 2015 had symtoms similar to uc.Gp sent me to gastro specialist for a coloscopy, went not so good because of severe inflamation.

So put me on predosoline, same as everybody else, l assume..50 mgs 3 days then 40 for a week untill now 13 feb 2016, am on 5 mgs every second day for my last week so what can i say so far...my specalist called me last week to say it was not uc i have because of the results of my 2nd coloscopy biopsies on 11 jan 2016, he said it seems to be some other inflamation i have but they do not know what it is so i have to submit a stool sample for cal proctein level.

After i said that with predesoline it was fantastic but as i an now on 5 mgs the bleeding was back again he said to continue comming off the meds untill the course is finished ( next week ) and as he is now going on holiday for 2 weeks, if i have acute problems i must go to emergency dept...

Good luck to me then...anyway what i have felt with this drug is mostly in line with the majority..in the begining perfect how it stopped everything & back to normal for the first few weeks.From 50 to 40 ti 30 all was okey then 25 and 20 and 15 then the effects started.

Pain in my left forearm only, dizzy different periods of the day, shakes in fingers a little, sweating a lot AFTER passing a stool ( something that resembles one ) night sweats a little, nor a lot.The biggest effect i had was the next day after i had a little whisky or two, as i am scottish of course i like my weekly tipple but on this drug ( by the was says zilch on alcohol usage on my prescription advice & my doctor said nothing about intake of alcohol, maybe i was naive or an idiot) the day after was a massive hangover, i mean i thought i was dying, after only 15 cl of whisky this was not good.

I stopped drinking whisky 3 weeks ago & just had a beer ( one pint ) & 3 glasses of red wine.

That was not worse but heavens above so little alcohol & i felt like i consumed one litre of whisky.

So last night 2 glas white white wine, no beer no whisky and this morning went well in the toilet!! Ye ha i thought, looks good so far but alas after my tea its back again so we will continue to see how this weaning progress goes in the next week.

No great hopes but i am mostly mild in comparisson to a lot of people with real uc.

Maybe i will find out what i have soon..keep the hopes up everybody out there !!!

About 13 yrs ago I was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica. The treatment recommended was Prednisone. Starting on a high dose and quickly weaning down. I felt fantastic while on it, but unfortunately when they weaned me off, I couldn't move. So much pain.

I was finally told that I was misdiagnosed and when I did have was Poly OsteoArthritis. Last February I had my first flareup with UC. I never felt so sick in my whole life. The pain and the uncontrollable running was horrifying. I went to the doctor and he prescribed a colonoscopy. He told me that from what he sees, didn't warrant the pain I was having. He started me on different medications, but unfortunately nothing worked. Still being on prednisone he raised it to a very high dose then to wean off again. The side effects this time is horrible. I was raging, I couldn't sleep, I was gaining weight rapidly. I could not stop eating. Finally he weaned me down, and the pain and discomfort that goes along with the UC immediately came back. He then sent me for a sigmoidoscope, and then again told me that the pain and suffering I was going through didn't relate to the results of those tests. My rheumatologist told me was not unusual to have both arthritis and ulcerated colitis together. They agreed to put me on Humira. Unfortunately, I could not afford the copayment of $1000 a month. So, they decided to put me on Remicade, and I recently took my third dose of infusion. what I laugh about, is the fact that my insurance company is paying $26,000 a dose. They wouldn't cover the Humira . At this point I am still having stomach pains but the colitis is changed to now constipation, and my arthritis seems to be a little better. Needless to say I'm a little disappointed, because I am still on the steroids. I would like to know is why can I not take a higher dose of the steroids and get off the Remicade. I am told that the prednisone is much more harmful than the Remicade infusion. I am beside myself, since I have felt that there is like nothing that is really working. I am giving the Remicade another dose,and make my decision from there. In the meantime I am weaning off the prednisone again and I'm down to 5 mg a day. What I suggest to anybody taking prednisone, to not stop it suddenly. I did that one time and I was the severely ill So now the doctor told me to wean off as slowly as I can. If anyone has any suggestions, I would so appreciate it. I feel like I am sick every day. I feel like I am running a few errands and exhausted, but no fever. I'm wondering if this is a side effect of the Remicade.

Thank you for letting me vent.

I was put on Prednisone as a last result since my flare was so extreme. They couldn't even finish my colonoscopy as the disease had caused my colon to become so inflamed. I took a very high dose and then started tapering after 3 months. The side effects are absolutely horrible. I didn't sleep the entire time I was on the medicine. I constantly had to urinate. I got moonface. The medicine cause me to be "mean" as my family would say. It also caused my hormones to be all over the place for over a year. Only almost 2 years later, do I feel like my hormones are finally balanced. This is a medicine that I never have to go on again, although I know that it is required by most insurance companies in order to take other medication like Remicade.

I see a lot of negative reviews of Prednisone, but I have found it to be semi effective. I am still new to the UC scene, only diagnosed in August 2015 with a very mild flare up. So far I have not experienced the extreme conditions that some people seem to suffer. But in the short 3 months that I have been living with UC I have had two flare ups. First entocord suppressed it and then Prednisone. I am now going through my third flare up, again a mild one, while I am on Prednisone. I was supposed to take the Prednisone for 5 weeks, slowly waning off of it, but after three weeks I had another flare up. BUT it was not because the Prednisone did not work. Apparantly I also have a viral infection in my colon that is causing the flare up. I did not gain weight while on the Prednisone, in fact I lost 2kg instead!, and I did not get any mood swings or had any other side effects. So for people who have mild UC flare ups like I do please do not fear Prednisone as not all of us suffer from the side effects.

I was diagnosed with UC and I was put on this medication after a colonoscopy. It didn't work properly for me as it took so long to build up in my system. I eventually had to be put on remicade as my disease worsened. They side effects are dreadful!! Mood swings and weight gain not to mention multiple more side effects....

I have had Uc since 1982. The first few years were tough, but the went 20+ years without much problem until March 2014 since then two flare ups and prednisone (40mg...30mg...20mg weaning). First flare up irritability big time. This time a (20mg...10mg...5 mg 15 day boost; followed by the monthly 40 mg...30mg etc.) I am irritable (but not quite as bad) but have insomnia and noticed my hair thinning. I'm 58 yea r old male, so could be unrelated, but didn't notice it until I was weaning off the 15 day boost. Heard Biotin might be helpful to counter hair thinning/loss? Anyone have input?

My new husband on prednisone and has turned into someone else. It is just awful. I had no idea...

Prednisone does work wonders for UC but I would rather be I'll than go on this medicine again. The side effects are horrible for me; night sweats, mood swings, water retention, weight gain that is almost impossible to get off. There are much better options than being stuck on prednisone, at least for me personally.

Yep, I concur with much I have read in these reviews. Suffered badly with U.C. for 6 or 7 years, wouldn't touch steroids, heard bad things about them. About 8 years ago I tried them due to feet swelling up double size. Worked instantly, virtually no side effects except for a feeling of extreme well-being! Nowadays I go on 40mg one day, 35mg, then 30, 25 etc i.e. an 8 day course. Works mostly, but these days it really messes with my head. I'm also on Ibuprofen most of the time. Having said that I'm on the SCD at the moment and many U.C. symptons gone but this diet is really messing with my head!!! Overall it's been very positive in helping me live a normal life.

I have mainly been on prednisone for lupus for 48 years, so I can only review for that. I spent 10 years on 100 mg a day! I felt as if I was dying as everything was such an effort. For short term use, yes, do it. For long term, try not to. I gained 400 lbs, had to have my knees replaced 3 times (always check your knees as it eats the bone), and have permanent problems due to it. In 1996, I quit going to my doctor, who said I couldn't live without that much, and took myself down off of it. I now take it only for short bursts. YES, I know I wouldn't be alive now without it, but I feel much better without taking it constantly. I did lose 250 lbs, and am doing well, but at 19, it was too much. DO NOT STOP IT SUDDENLY- be sure a doctor takes you down as yes, you could die- I had been on it so long that I knew what I was doing taking myself down. When first taking it, you only want to sit in front of the open refrig door and eat. Yes, yearly eye tests, mainly by a retina specialist, is part of it. Moon face will always be there due to taking it for so long. If you are on it for a long time, remember your body makes prednisone on its own, and when you are on it, most of joint pain goes away; but when you come down, your body isn't making it naturally, so you have withdrawl at first (quite a bit of pain), and then it will level out as your body starts producing it again. I totally recommend it for short time or low dose only. Hope this helps, Sharon in Silver Spring, MD USA

Prednisone is a love/hate drug for me. Its been the most effective medication I have tried so far, literally making me fully better within just 2 days. However at times I feel I would rather be ill than have to deal with the side effects such as the horrific mood swings and difficulty sleeping as well as the swollen (moon) face and unbelieveable weight gain (1.5 stone) in just 2 weeks!! If there were a medication which worked just as well as prednisone but without the side effects then it would be the perfect drug.

I gave this medication a 4 because it worked pretty fast in getting my flare under control....& when i say fast, i mean FAST!...within 24 hrs. I heard all kinds of horror stories abt side effects...luckily i experienced minimal. The only side effects i encountered after almost 6 months on pred (started at 40mgs and then weaned), were excessive sweating & very sensitive to cold teeth. Thats it! I know the long term side effects of this med are bad so i dont know if i'd wanna go on it again unless i HAD to (would like to try Endocort or Uceris), but if i had to i would cause it did work quite well.

In the past, prednisone has worked wonders to get my flares under control. I didn't have any weight gain or moon face, but I had some swollen ankles and knees. Also, the Pred didn't work on my last flare, but this could be because I came up positive for cdiff. I do have osteoporosis now and prednisone might have been a contributing factor to this. I worry a lot about the long term side effects more than the immediate ones. I'd give Pred 5 stars if it didn't have such terrible side effects.

Prednisone did help get me back in remission, but the side effects were almost worse than my flare. Extreme roid rage, body acne, hungry ALL the time, not sleeping for weeks, bruises that make it look like someone is beating me, indigestion, etc.

I was on prednisone for 6 months. At a high dose for 3 of those months before tapering. I am grateful it helped put me into remission as a 65 day flare led me to the hospital.....and doctors panicking over how sick I was. But.....at first no one told me you shouldn't take it at dinner. For the first few weeks I was a ball of energy at night. I cooked my way through the Canadian living magazine (for 4 months!). Over time I became rounder; very self conscious; exhausted; struggled with my moods; had prednisone muscle tremors all the time; heart palpitations that required potassium pills; could drive; forgot EVERYTHING!; wanted to eat everything!; and eventually by thanksgiving last year, it looked as if I ate the entire dinner alone. The hardest part was coming off of it. The withdrawal made me very sick. My poor family had to watch me struggle on and off this drug----and with "crazy me".----so glad im back to normal now! While it helped save my life, it doesn't come without a price.

Hello. I was on this drug for 13 weeks back when I was first diagnosed in 2011. At the time I it really helped with getting me on the right track to putting me on remission. But now as I am learning more about it I wish I would have been given more options from my doctor.

This Friday I am on the way to have a glaucoma test because because my eye doctor believes Might have it which is pretty common of people using presldnisone.

When I was on it made me hungry. I ate all the time. Made me sleepy. But at the time I didn't have all the information about it and like many people I just wants to feel better. I had a one year old at the time.

I just wish I was more educated. So my review would be use at our risk but educate yourself first! It's serious stuff and needs to be stressed that by doctors.

Hi to all you Prednisone users,as a retired Pharmacist(due to LUPUS) and on Prednisone for 20 years here are a few tips for coping with Prednisone,always take before bathing or showering if not your BP will increase,always take with or after food,keep hydrated carry bottle of water or non acidic juice,do not take in the evenings otherwise you will be hanging from the chandeliers or dancing around the room at 3.00 a.m in the morning.Never take with alcohol and NEVER stop taking your daily

prescribed dosage without consulting with your DR or you could go into Cardiac Arrest.Also you should be on a diuretic LASIX or Puresis which is the generic and you should also be taking doses of Potassium as Prednisone does deplete the body of Potassium causing Low BP

- Slow K or the generic PLENISH ask your Doctor.You will quite often get horrible bruising as your skin does become very fragile but you can use REPARIL GEL which is actually a muscle reliever,but is great for bruising,a fact not well known,but I have used with great success,as at times I can on my hands look like

I have been in a fist fight and many people remark about it,if there is anything else

I can think of to help you cope will do another review,hope this assists Regards Kim

Johannesburg South Africa

Was on prednisone for 6 months from 50 mg down to 35 back up to 50mg now 0 :). Want people to know that it isn't always as bad as what you read. I was really scared to be on it bc of what others went through, but in my own experience the side effects were worth the outcome so remember that. After a few months my face puffed up slightly but not a lot, my acne increased but knew it was temporary, and my hair thinned a bit and would fall out daily but totally manageable. Compared to what I expected to happen wasn't as bad so if ur just starting it don't worry, not everyone gets terrible side effects and a good chance they will be manageable bc they are only temporary.

I was going thru a bad UC flare - 9 months. I have UC for 10 years and really am a mild case. They gave me prednisone for 3 months. It helped with the flare up, but I gain about 30 lbs, my face became rounded and I had a very short temper. Now spring 2014 going thru another flare up...worse one so far and was on ulceris for 1 week. did not help. GI doc put me on prednisone again and flare up/bleeding much better. Now on reducing dosage for the next 4 weeks and noticing other side effects: night sweats, hands jittery about hour after I take the meds, and increasing pain feet/legs cramps. This last one is really the one that is bad, especially at night. I know of the other signs from before, so I watch how i speak to others.

Predisone works fast (40mg) to get rid of a bad flare up but then it takes forever to wean off. The side effects are facial hair, moon face, always feeling hungry, weight gain.

I was given predinisone when I was 20 yrs old and first diagnosed with Crohns. I tried to take it for about 6 weeks. The side effects of terrible acid indigestion, hair growth on my face , weight gain, my face and body bloated and disfigured. I threw it away. I felt it was worse than the disease. I continued to be sick and had a couple of surgeries until I walked away from the doctors. My hope for anyone with Crohns is to read about others who have improved their condition using meds for help with symptoms( diarrhea, nausea, pain, fever, etc); but the real answer lies in learning to help your own immune system work. This means high fiber diet of cooked fruit, vegetables, rice, chicken/fish and no harsh grains. I started by resting my intestines by drinking Spirutein meal replacement as a smoothy all day long. Whne I felt like I could eat I did. This was all I did forabout a week or two. Then I added Vitamins. They were Zinc, Vitamin C, Magnesium, Calcium, and Vegan Omega #3. I did this for a long time and in baby steps. While doing this I read as much as I could understand about inflammation in the body, about auto immune diseases, and about vitamins and what each one can do in your body. That is it. Not complicated but consistent and never giving up hope. I found hope in reading about other people and how they were doing something very similar and succeeding. There are thousands of us out here who have overcome Crohns in this matter. Please consider this: you must care enough about yourself to start to make choises that are the least stressful in evry phase of your life. Crohns is not caused by stress but it is exacerbated by stress. If you have personal, financial, or other problems you must seek a stress free solution . You will get better. It has been proven. Please consider that you are the someone who can overcome this debilitating misery without the strong meds . My best wishes and stronger yet, my prayers for each one reading this is that you will accept my recommendations. SPIRUTEIN see Crohnsbattle.com through google, I still live on it every day and it keeps me strong.

Prednisone failed for me. I was on it for 6 months and it never did anything.



When Remicade + 6PM + Lialda ended up working, I was taken off prednisone and met with a specialist who did a bone density check. He told me that the prednisone had hurt my bone density so much that I had the density of a 70 years old (I was 39 at the time). It took 2 years of calcium supplements and lots of dairy to built things back up.



So this one's not for me.

I have had U.C. for 7 years and have been through all the different types of mesalamine, sulfalazine, and some I've forgot the names of. 2 years ago I had a flare up that was mild but would not go away. I was in flare until about 4 months ago when I started prednisone and mesalamine suppositories. My flare went into remission until I got down to 10mg of prednisone and no more suppository (all while stil taking my lialda). about 2 months ago I was prescribed sulfalazine...didn't work. now i'm on prednisone and about to start purinethol. I have not had any side effects at all from prednisone, yet my dr. said its not a long term fix so he's switching me to the purinethol.

Prednisone works so well for me and the side effects don't really bother me at all. I need 60mg/day for it to be effective during a flare but I notice immediate relief from diarrhea, mucus, urgency and bleeding. I don't sleep very well on it but I have learned from this sickness to be able to relax and meditate in bed and get as much rest as possible even though I am not sleeping. My joint pain disappears and my muscle and tendon tightness disappears. It's a miracle drug for me and I am so happy to feel a little bit normal again when I take it. I do notice some irritability and have to do a lot of apologizing to my wife. She is very understanding and that helps. I know that when I have tapered in the past my symptoms have come back. I think it was because I tapered too quickly after getting down to 5mg/day. Last time I lowered the dosage by 1mg per week until I was off and I was fine.

I was diagnosed with UC almost 3 years ago. I have been hospitalized twice and am currently on the 6MP. Of the 3 years I have had UC, I have been on prednisone about 2.5 years of that. this last flare up was bad and after being on iv steroids in the hospital I went home still on the prednisone.. it was the worst experience with side effects I had ever had. irrational thinking, scared, paranoid, suicidal, sever weight gain, couldn't walk due to pain in my knees, night sweats, missed periods, angry and sad all the time, back pain, blurred vision, bloated face and stomach,weak.. I finally went in and they put me on what they considered a VERY FAST taper. I had them put in my file, I will never again be on prednisone. If that results in surgery then so be it but I wont go thru this again. I am currently in remission for now. I know for me stress is a huge factor so I just try to keep things mellow and take my medicine. I realize that choosing not to ever be on prednisone again will limit me if I have a flare up but I just know for my sanity I cant do it. I have 3 kids and it really altered who I was too much. Very scary. I remember when I first got sick I thought prednisone was as wonder drug cause it helped me and my side effects were minimal but now, it doesn't even help unless I have the IV and then im still stuck on the pills.. 40mg. Glad to be off it now. Evil drug!!

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis when I was 29 - I am 40 now. It is in my family - dad, sister, aunt, and cousin are all afflicted. The first time I was diagnosed, the gastro prescribed Asacol, which made my symptoms so much worse that I ended up in the hospital for about a week! In the hospital, I was given prednisone intravenously and then took it orally after I was released. Had some weight gain (mainly in my back), increased acne on face and body, moon face, very emotional, increased hunger.....but did make flare go away.



I stayed in remission for many years, but just began experiencing more frequent flares about two years ago. Each time I have taken prednisone and had the same side effects. However, this time I am also experiencing numbness in my arms and legs (mainly my left side), which is really scaring me. I am going to see the gastro tomorrow to discuss these new effects. Also, I just started spotting and it is not time for my menstrual cycle, which is definitely not typical for me. I have been very emotional - crying uncontrollably. I am also anemic, which has caused much weakness. I am currently on 40 mg. per day - been on this amount for 10 days. Still experiencing diarrhea, but less frequently than before - still blood. Hope to taper down to 30 mg. at the end of the week. Just really worried about the numbness in my arms and legs - it is really scaring me. It feels like there has been muscle loss. Also, my toes are getting purple - seems like a lack of circulations. Scary!

Was on Buderisone for a few weeks when my flare-ups came back. Dr. put me on 50MG(5 pills) to start for two weeks and then 4 for three weeks and so on and so on. Also was on Hydrocortisone Rectal Suspension. After the first week my flare-ups went away. By the second week the puffiness started appearing. By week 4 my face look like a puffin fish. The back of my neck was so tight I could on lift my neck up a little. My ankles and legs were so swollen that my husband said I had cankles. I had put on about 30pds. I know it wasn't all fluid, but being on predisone you could eat anything and I always felt hungry. I have been off predisone for three weeks and I have only lost about 3lbs, and I am hardly eating right now because of gallbladder problems.

Hope to never have to take predisone again.

I have been on Prednisone (along with Asacol) for 2 weeks and I noticed immediate relief from my UC symptoms. After the first 4 days of being on the steroid (before starting the Asacol) I had no more stomach pain, bowel movements eventually returned to normal (no more blood, consistency was normal, bowel movements weren't frequent)... Basically, I felt back to normal for the most part.

After a few more days (after adding the Asacol dosage), I started feeling sore around my neck, upper back, and around my underarms. These areas were sensitive to the touch, but it would only last for a day and it doesn't happen every day (so far, only happened twice). As I understand, these are areas where lymph nodes are located. Seeing as Prednisone suppresses the immune system in order to get rid of the inflammation, it makes sense to me why these areas would be sore from time to time.

I've started getting acne on a small area on my chest and more on my face. Steroids can mess with your hormones though, so this I also understand.

I have an increased appetite, but after the months of being in pain after every meal and losing a significant amount of weight from the anxiety of said stomach pains... I'm very glad that I can eat whatever I want without being in pain and I'm happy to gain back the healthy weight that I've lost!



So far, the side effects haven't seemed very troublesome to me. I'd take these side effects over the UC flare up any day! Just looking on the bright side.

I was on Prednisone for 2.5 months. I did not gain weight, although I did get a bit of a moon face. Prednisone messed with my ovulation cycle and now, after tapering off and being steroid free for 3 weeks, I have started losing my hair! I will NEVER take prednisone again. It didn't help anyway; I had to go on Remicade soon after starting due to severity of symptoms.

I was in the middle of a bad flare due to my own negligence and stubborness. My doctor prescribed prednisone and took it without even looking up the side effects. It really helped and didn't suffer any noticeable sides. I consider myself lucky especially after reading some of the comments below. I was on a 10 day taper so perhaps I wasn't on it long enough but after 3 days I actually experienced two regular bowels, in a row even ! Because of this turn around I have now set my sights on a low carb high prorein diet.

Prednisone ... I was started on 40mg and was amazed, i had alot of joint pain and within a day i felt great. My appatite sky rocketed, as for sleep i always had trouble sleeping anyway so that wasn't any different. I am noe on 25 mg and it'a starting to wear off, my joints are getting a bit sore as off the last week. So i'm thinking this is just short term which i suspected anyway.

I was put on 40mg taper while my flare up was out of control. I literally ran to the bathroom 3 time in the waiting room for my doctor. The Preds made me very short tempered. Stupid stuff would aggravate me. After about a week I would still get mad but I would take a few breathes think about how stupid the things that were bothering were & I was good. The other issue I had was loss of sleep from 40-20mg I had allot of sleepless nights or just a few hours of sleep. I didn't gain any weight. I actually got a few comments about losing weight when I was on it. BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THE PREDS WORKED! I noticed results by week 2. My 20-30 trips to my second office reduced drastically to 5-10! By week 3 I had no more blood & was going to the bathroom only maybe 3 times a day. For me this was night & day! Ive now been off Prednisone for a month & have not bleed since the first week on. My stomach is still holding food from time to time & Im not going normal every time Im going but as far as the bleeding & constant running to the bathroom Im good.

SO back in March I was put on Prednisone for the very first time. For me it helped somewhat with the inflammation and my frequent bathroom trips. I started at 40mg a day for the first week. The first few days on it weren't bad at all. I even lost about 3 lbs. I thought wow so far so good. After several weeks on it the weight gained started. My face and neck swelled up. I have now gained 13 lbs total since starting. I feel like crap with the extra weight on me. I have been tapering down and as I taper down the side effects get worse. I had some weeks of horrific night sweats. Now that I am on 15mg a day I do notice I don't get the night sweats. I am constantly hungry and crave carbs all day long. If I start craving a food I need to eat and if I don't I get very nasty. I did in the beginning go through major mood swings and depression. I am finally out of that just wish I can start losing weight but I do feel like I am retaining water and feel a bit bloated plus I know I had a huge increase in calorie intake.



However it has helped quite a bit with my UC flare up. My symptoms are slowly but surely improving and I just wish the bleeding would stop but my GI doctor said it will come with time.



I don't care what kind of flare up I have again but never ever will I take prednisone again. I am so looking forward to the day I am off it!

I was prescribed the drug in December of 2012.. it was working wonderfully I was not having any blood any accidents nothing till I realized how fat a was getting from the face! ..I gained almost 2O lbs of water weight & immediatly told my GI doctor to get me off. The drug does its job itS wonderfull but with awfull side affects. Now iam on imuran one pill a day. And I feel good exsept with all that extra weight on me

I was put on a 40mg taper to try to get out of my first UC flare. I generally try to do things more naturally but things had gotten pretty dire - within a couple of weeks, my 20-25 daily episodes of bloody d reduced to 5-6, with no blood. I continued to improve throughout the 2 months - I have also been doing the Paleo Autoimmune diet as well, plus probiotics, glutamine, vit d, and fish oil. However, I needed the prednisone to jump start things for me. As far as side effects go, I did not have the typical ones of weight gain, mood swings, and insomnia. I was actually more tired than usual and had no trouble sleeping - however, I did have significant muscle wasting, loose ligaments in my ankles, and numbness in my calves. Thankfully those side effects went away once I was completely weaned! Hopefully I never have to take it again but I am thankful it helped me when I needed it.

I was put on 60mg of pred. &375mg of apriso I've tapered down to 5 mg of pred hoping the Apriso( mesalamine) would keep me from flaring up. Unfortunately today ( my last day on the pred ) my symptoms came rushing back. My doc said to go back up to 40mg which I did and almost immediately I stopped running to the bathroom every 20 min. I hate the side affects but I hate the UC symptoms worse. I just read Adams books and will definitely be using he's cook book after I ween down from the pred. Hopefully I can become medicine free myself it's worth a try ! Right now I'm in Taiwan visiting my daughter& family so it's tuff eating right ,but as much as I can I am using Adams cook book!

Well, It helps for the short term but it comes at cost.. I almost had all the side effect ...plus it caused me a lot of teeth problems

diagnosed with uc 1984.tend to have couple of flares a year on average and have had 2 two week holidays at good hope hospital over the years,coming very close to the knife on both occasions. i use prednisolone when i flare up and decide my usual meds are not going to bring it under control.i always find they have an almost instant effect and the side effects are a small price to pay.I start with 30 mg and up to 40 if need be,but i start down dosing when i feel i am back in control.My usual meds are asacol,mercaptopurine .

Diagnosed 1983 with UC. Oral Prednisone has never accomplished anything for me except exacerbation of symptoms except for while in hospital.Accupuncture worked for me for years, then finanaly didn't.Was on Asacol/Mesasal for 28 years with recurring flare ups and was still prescribed prednisone (which did not do anything except make symptoms worse). Tried every treatment that was reasonable (medication, diet, lifesthyle changes, exercises, etc) which did not work. Finally had and ileostomy in May 2012. AFter 29 years the old intestine had finaly given up the ghost.The surgeons could not believe that I had not had surgery at all before that, but guess what? I have NO PAIN. If you have to have surgery you have to have it, and it is a lot better than being chronically sick.

Prednisone helped me with my first flare up and I was on it a relatively short amount of time. It is a wonderdrug for inflamation of any kind but if you stay on it for very long and/or in high doses, it eventually becomes worse than the ailment you took it for. I had a flare up of my UC last year and was on as high a dose as 80mg for several months and it just wouldn't work like it did the first time. My face swole up into a moon face. My back, chest and arms broke out in the mose unsightly, painful acne you could imagine. I went to a new gastro and he put me on Imunran but I had just started a cycle of pred tapering from 40mg so I needed to taper slowly and be done with it. I did so until about 3 weeks left on my taper when I got sick and decided if my body was going to heal, I needed to stop taking one of the immunosuppresors I was on so I dropped the pred with 3 weeks left on my taper...folks, I almost died from that. I was a very healthy competitive Brazilian Jiu Jitsu player and if it wouldn't have been for that, I probably would have died. It's been about 6 months since I've been on prednisone. My back, chest and arms are clear of the acne but dark scars remain, hopefully they'll go away with a little sun this summer. Imuran is working wonders and I pray I never have to see another prednisone pill as long as I live.

I was first put on Pred last September when my first round of meds stopped working completely... I had lost 0ver 10% of my body weight in a month and my Doc was just trying to get everything to stop for a minute so we could determine where to go to next... He started me on 80 MGs (I'm a big girl as well, so that was probably part of the larger dose)... Well it worked for me immediately... After a month he started dropping it down by 15 MGs every 3 weeks until I was off completely... The only side affect I ever really felt was at the very beginning... For those 2 weeks, I could have eaten the papers on my desk, if I'd thought they were halfway tasty... I stocked myself with as many healthy snacks as I could because it seemed like all I wanted to do was eat!! But other than that, I didn't seem to have any other side affects...

I was first put on Prednisone in October of 2012 when I was first diagnosed. I started at 40mg and for about a week when I was in the hospital the second time at 60mg. I am now, 5 months later, finally down to 10mg and tapering at 5mg a week while going on to Humira. As much as the side effects of prednisone suck, I would definitely take it again. It brought me out of the woods and actually made me feel like me again. Granted it took a month and a half to work but I was also very sick. The moon face and joint pain is child's play compared to full blown flare symptoms.

Hi there I had a sever flare of my colitis in 2011 I was put on initially Hydrocortisone infusions 1000 mls 4 x a day for 2 weeks thank then put on 40mg prednisolone but sadly each time try and droped the dose I would get worsening of symptoms. so my GI suggested dropping 1mg a week I finally went down to 5mg and have been on this dose since but I still have 5-10 times bowel movements or more a day. I have had to recently up my dose again back to 15mg as I started having watery diareah again and feeling quite unwell again, my new gi has me on a new regiment of medications and is hoping that the new dose will hope settle things down until the new meds kick in. hate the side affects and it caused me to get diabetes, when I increase the dose above 10mg I start getting side affects again I suffer from moon face, become moody and irratible, increased hunger, sweating uncontrolably and start getting knee and leg pain. Love the drug but hate it at the same time. I would love to come of it if I could

Hi there I have had colitis since I was 17 and now im 37..in the start of the disease I was on prenisone for a long time 8 pills a day..40mg a day for a couple years. but now I starting to have some bone loss (ostiopedia) that my doctor believes its becasue of the prednisone... I would never take it again and also the moon face really sucked bigtime.

While the long term effects is a concern for me, prednisone has been a life saver. Diagnosed in 2009, I've taken the drug for 6 month each of 2010 and 2011. I seem to get a flare at the beginning of winter and it takes until the end of April to get my immune system working effectively. I've never gained weight using this drug. It has given me so much energy I guess I just run off the calories. The last episode I noticed the moon shape face but, not before that. I also appreciate that all my muscle aches and pains go away. It really is an amazing drug. I plan on continueing useing it if I need to. (This winter I left the cold and stayed healthy-surprise surprise). I am mid fifties, active woman.

Over most of the past 30 years I have taken prednisone. It has pulled me out of the woods many times. I have had bone density tests over the years and knock on wood I am still good. I look at it as quality of life. I know there are risks...but I need to have a quality of life. Right now I am on 10 mg for the past 6 months...down from 50. I would pick to be on it if necessary.

Unlike most, I suffer constipation and had a terrible 6 month flare that wouldn't quit. I nervously tried prednisone (50mg) for the first time after Jan 2013 colonoscopy confirmed that the UC was very active. So, now that I am on my last week (yay) I can review in hindsight.

Let's see... it was wonderful to have no systemic inflammation (forgot what that felt like) and having 2-3 normal BMs with no pain everyday. And although I barely slept the first 6 weeks, I was so happy to have energy and feel good that I may have opted to try to stay up 20 hours a day. Hah!

The dark side was the prednisone rage I would sometimes feel. Yikes! my hair falling out in clumps, chubby little face, joint pain & the uncontrollable hunger. I needed to put on 20 lbs so in the end it all worked out.

I feel the inflammation creeping back a little but I have renewed hope that remission is around the corner. Keeping my diet very strict & carrying on with food intolerance testing in 3 weeks. :)

I hope to never take prednisone again... I worry about the liver damage & osteoporosis etc., but it is always there as a last resort.

Good Luck to everyone.

I have had UC for 13 years, first 2 were misdiagnosed as IBS. I only have to take this when I have a reoccurance and at first the side effects were horrible with the high dosage. However, I learned to take it very early in the a.m. as so not to become sleep deprived. The other side effects I learned to deal with and it is the ONLY thing that can get me back to living a fairly normal life. As my outbreaks have become fewer (thanks to natural probiotics, aloe juice and dietary changes) I have found that I rarely need it and when I do it works quickly. I have tried other meds but this works, plain and simple. Also, it is affordable compared tot he alternatives!

I have used prednisone on two different occasions over the 11 years I have been diagnosed with UC. The first time I took it for about 2 months and things weren't so bad. The side effects were minimal, but the UC was being treated and I was having normal bowel movements after a couple of weeks of taking the medication. About year 8 I went through a bad spell with UC and ended up on prednisone for about 6 months and the side effects were real bad. I put on 20 pounds, 175 - 195. I had the puffy face to go along with the weight gain, sore joints and always hungry. I went off of it and swore never to go on it again. The good thing that came out of this was me keeping track of my diet and what bothered me and what didn't. I think that is HUGE in the battle of UC. You need to know these things so you can control at as best as possible yourself. I am currently taking 4 Lialda a day and weigh 170 pounds and exercise regularly to keep my stress level down which also causes flare ups for me.

I was diagnosed in Nov 2012 and Prednisone saved me. I was in incredible pain and hadn't had a solid movement for over 2 months. I was feeling better after a couple weeks of Pred and became less reliant as i tapered the doses down. I agree there are some side effects. I was irritable and always hungry but it sure beat being irritable because of the pain and not being able to eat solids for weeks. I am a believer in this medication for short periods of time. It is the sole reason i felt better and was able to enjoy Christmas with family.

I was on 40 mg. It worked when I was on the high dose, but when I went down to about 20 mg I started getting symptoms back again. And I absolutely HATE the side effects! The moon face was horrible! It went down after I was off of it, but it never completely went away!

I was diagnosed with Colitis Jan/2012. After the enemas/Lialda did not work, my doc put me on 40 mg of Prednisone. It worked very fast and I tapered off for a few months. I had minor side-effects; a little weight gain, a slightly swollen face, and felt jittery (like I drank too much caffeine at the higher end of the dose). It worked pretty fast and got me out of my flare. I transitioned to Lialda and have not had another flare.

Prednisone is probably the only drug that I know for sure has helped my since I was diagnosed in March 2012. Unfortunately since then I've only been able to get completely off of it once and that was only for a few weeks before I had a flare up again. Currently I'm back down to 10mg per day, about to go down to 5mg's tomorrow. I implemented a diet change 2 months ago which seems to be helping me out. I'm hoping that weaning down from 5mg's to 0mg's very slowly this time around, along with my new diet will allow me to stay off predinisone longer this time. At high doses(I was at 60mgs at one point) I definitely had the night sweats, moodiness, some moonface, and of course crazy hunger. I've had joint pain but I'm not sure if that's just from the colitis or a side effect of the meds. Overall I just don't like the feeling of being dependent on a drug that you know is hurting you in the long run(weaking of bones, ect). For me at least though taking prednisone still feels like a better option than having surgery.

Prednisone is probably the only drug that I know for sure has helped my since I was diagnosed in March 2012. Unfortunately since then I've only been able to get completely off of it once and that was only for a few weeks before I had a flare up again. Currently I'm back down to 10mg per day, about to go down to 5mg's tomorrow. I implemented a diet change 2 months ago which seems to be helping me out. I'm hoping that weaning down from 5mg's to 0mg's very slowly this time around, along with my new diet will allow me to stay off predinisone longer this time. At high doses(I was at 60mgs at one point) I definitely had the night sweats, moodiness, some moonface, and of course crazy hunger. I've had joint pain but I'm not sure if that's just from the colitis or a side effect of the meds. Overall I just don't like the feeling of being dependent on a drug that you know is hurting you in the long run(weaking of bones, ect). For me at least though taking prednisone still feels like a better option than having surgery.

Prednisone slowed down the frequency of bm's, but did nothing for the consistency or blood. I blew up like a balloon, couldn't sleep, got night sweats, and lost a bunch of hair.

I love Prednisone for my colitis. It works within a day or two. I have energy, my bms decrease from 15 to 5 in a couple weeks, and the cramping goes down significantly. It is a miracle in pill form. And now for the side effects. All of the usual ones, moon face, hair growth (esp on my back as a lady), irritability, feels like I am on crack, and psychosis. I already have bipolar and because of the mixture of Prednisone six years ago, I attempted suicide. Annnnnd despite all of those side effects, I will always use Prednisone.

I've been on Prednisone several times and I learned that if its done right its a wonderful drug. For me (130lbs and 5'6ish) I loose all symptoms in

While prednisone is a great drug for feeling better quickly, I HATE IT!! I was on high doses for a long time when I was in high school. Let's just say that teen hormones, stress and prednisone are not a good mix. I was a monster! I wanted to fight everyone, tried to hurt myself, was so aggressive. I am 5'2", so I wouldn't seem threatening, but I as on a 'roid rage'.

I ate like a line-backer and was thankfully so active that weight wasn't an issue, but my face was so moony...I felt I looked disgusting. I have sweet 16 pics that I don't want to look at because of it! Plus I had people, including teachers make fun of me. Being called 'cabbage patch' by a teacher was pretty low.

Plus the headaches, major headaches. And sleeplessness. I don't know how I made it through! Ugh. I felt like I imagine mania to be like; I hated it!

And now that I have been on pred many times and for so long, I have to worry about my bones. I am at high risk for osteoporosis anyway (short, white, normal weight woman) so I have more to worry about. I actually go for a dexa scan on Monday.



I would NEVER go on pred again unless it was the only option. It is a great drug in an emergency, but otherwise, I refuse.

Worked GREAT at eliminating my symptoms, but that's the only good thing I can say about it. On the negative side, it made me gain 20 pounds (still working on losing those four months later), it killed my tastebuds, and it gave me anxiety. And worse yet, the symptoms all came back two weeks after I stopped the prednisone. Now I'm Imuran (an anti-rejection drug) which also relieves UC symptoms, but with far fewer side effects.



One thing I haven't seen mentioned here: I'm on coumadin for a mechanical heart valve, an Prednisone way boosted my INR. I had to cut my coumadin dose by a third to get it back where it belongs. My doctor wasn't even aware of this fact and didn't warn me, but fortunately my cardiologist's staff was on top of it. Imuran, by the way, drops the INR so now I have to boost my coumadin intake! It's always something!

i was prescribed prednisone recently and was taking 40mg a day, after 3 days i ended up in the hospital with breathing issues, numbness and dizziness through out my body and severe panic attack. it may of slightly made my colon feel better but the side effects far outweighed that. i also had severe depression and blurred vision, i couldnt stop crying and i couldnt seem to keep my eyes open, the doctor at the hospital said i was allergic

I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in November of 2012. I have been on Prednisone and am currently finsihing up my last two weeks on this drug. It made me gain weight, my cheeks got chubby, and I experienced pain all over my body. But the worst part was how it affected my mood. I became easily irritated and felt like I was always on edge. I didn't want to be around others because of how negative I had become and I got very depressed on this medication. Next time I experience a flare, I will ask for something else. This was a terrible last few months. It seems to have worked as far as my colitis symptoms, but the mood change was just too awful for me to go through again.

I was taking 40mg of prednisolone tapering down by 1 tablet every 2 weeks, and instantly I noticed that I could not sleep at night and was constantly exhausted during the day, my appetite increased immediately but I did wasn't gaining weight, in fact I was losing it. It wasn't until 6 weeks into using the drug that I noticed the moonface appear (I HATE IT)! As I tapered down onto the final dose of 1 pill I noticed the increased sweating start to take hold of me along with the increased hair growth. I have now been Prednisolone free for 2 weeks and sill sweating, still feel hairy and still have the moonface. I did not get the mood swings at all, I was very emotional in the begining therefore was prescribed antidepressants that put a stop to that. Would I take Prednisolone again? Yes if it was the only thing that was going to make my colitis symptoms subside, it worked wonders for me.

I HATED prednisone. I became very, very emotional and could not stop thinking about food--all the time. The strain on my marriage was intense--my marraige survived, but just barely. It took months and months to get off of it, because I kept having withdrawal attacks. I gained LOTS of weight. There is absolutely NO WAY I will take prednisone in the future.

I have been on Prednisone since November 2012. While it did help take care of some of my worst UC symptoms, it definitely came with some side effects, too. I got the night sweats, insomnia, slight moon face, acne, and tooth sensitivity. All of my hair from the waist down stopped growing, but from the waist up it got darker and thicker (including my upper lip...and I'm a girl, haha). Shortly after a meal my BP shoots up for a bit, too. I started on 40 mg/d and have tapered down to 20, but past that my symptoms get way worse. I loved this drug at first because of the increased energy and symptom control, but I can tell my body is ready to be rid of it, as am I.

I have been on hydrocortison and/or prednisolone since being in hospital in october 2011 I was put on 1000mg 4 x a day of hydrocortison after being rushed into hospital with a severe flaw of pan ulcerative colitis. I hate the stuff and my emotions were all over the place one minute I was crying next angry and moody couldn't sleep put on weight. sadly I have not gotten of them since 2011 but know I am on either 10mg or 5mg doses prednisolone. I wish I could get of them but I think it is the thing that helps my UC. on new medicstions now trying MTX, pred, flaygyl and rifaximin and another medication Rifabutin which I am waiting to pick up

Terrible side effects while on it: anxiousness was the worst one, but was angry and sad too. Horrible withdrawal side effects when I discontinued...severe nausea was the main one, extreme fatigue, skin crawling, felt like I was dying.

I hope I will never HAVE to take this drug again. I won't unless I am going to DIE.

I was diagnosed in June 2011 with UC. Went to May Clinic in Rochester, MN in Nov 2012 for 2nd opinion and UC was confirmed. I was considered by Mayo to have a mild case of Left Sided UC. I also had very low iron creating chronic anemia. Mayo Clinic released me back to my local doctor where I received Venofer via IV. I received 5 timed treatments of this liquid iron sucrose to replenish what my body had lost. Binding capacity put me out around 3 to 4 months to restore iron levels to a minimum. But that was only if I were to stop bleeding. I continued to bleed somewhere in the ball park of a few teaspoons to a 1/4 cup. I could not figure out how to control the bleeding. I had taken every pill known for UC including mesalamine and pred. It wasn't until I read about topical treatments on google that I started thinking differently. Topical vs taking pills was not the easier option. Topical basically means enema. I had had a very hard time understanding how that worked. I mean I literally could not physically keep the enema in. It made no sense to me. Then I read you're supposed to lie down after an enema. This made it easier. I started with Rowasa, 4g of mesalamine delivered topically. This was much better than the pills. But sadly they did nothing. I did Rowasa for 2 months and there was no change in my symptoms. I put it away and tried the SCD diet. I was good sticking to the rules for the first month but felt so deprived. Happy Hour sucked big time. Beer and pizza?! Forget it! So back to enema mesalamine, Rowasa, I went but this time my doc paired it with proctofoam HC. This is Pred but a topical version. What does that mean? -- fewer nasty side effects!



After 3 days of enema mesalamine and proctofoam HC, my BM's went from 8+ to 2! Zero blood after 3rd day. Less stinky after 1 week. Formed BM's after 2 weeks. Less stomach noise after 2 weeks. I'm now working on kicking anemia. Can't wait!



I made sure i did each enema treatment together - meaning Rowasa and Pred together. I would do this enema treatment 3 times daily -- if I had a BM and lost the meds I would reapply them to make sure I got 3 good doses in per day). This is the combination that worked for me with very very little side effects! I hope it helps someone else get better.

It was the only thing that cleared the flare ups up. Would start on 30mg and over 10 wks ween off them only to flare up a couple of weeks later, so the cycle continued for a couple of years in that pattern. On the higher doses I would be incredibly forgetful and fatigued, suffered pain in my joints and became bad tempered. On the lower doses I still had memory issues but energy levels were amazing. I fortunately, never gained any weight, actually lost some, didn't loose or gain appetite or suffered from facial bloating. So great in some respects but felt very out of control of my body.

It worked wonders when I had a bad flare, within days I went from 20 bowel movements to 5 and then to almost normal. I have had to take it 3 times, all for about 2-3 months. The third time I took it it did not work well, I barely notice a difference, so I had the side effects but no relief. For that reason I will not take it again.

My side effects were that I was starving all the time, I would gain about 10-20 pounds, my face would get swollen and fat, I would be up in the middle of the night unable to sleep, I had a ton of energy despite lack of sleep. What I hated most was the change in my face, I felt so ugly.

i was on prednisone for about 9 months. it didn't help me at all but gave me all the aweful side effects. I blew up like a blimp, couldn't sleep, was super moody (understatement), could not remember anything seconds later, couldn't focus my eyes or attention, and was just plain miserable. that stuff can do so much bad stuff, my bone density also went to hell and every time i had to get an iv put it, it was so hard and would blow out in a day or less, made my veins horrible to work with. the stuff is just horrible. all good in small doses for limited time but long term it's evil.

When my doctor told me this medicine would help with the colitis pain i agreed to take it. I was on prednisone for 8 months 40 ml. i started at 125 lbs. at the end of the 8 months i weighed 164 lbs. and being a girl it caused a lot of problems. I went through depression, i hated being fat, the medicine itself worked in the beg. but about 5 months in i started geting all the pain back, bleeding and feeling like crap my doctor had me change my diet and added another medicine to my already long list to avoid starting me on remicade. At the 8 month point i told my doctor that he better take me off this medicine because i was turning into a crazy person, i had gained weight really bad, my moods changed (normally friendly to mean and really low patience) and the depression got really bad. He took me off and a month later i started Remicade and i must say its the best decision i've done. I call it the devil drug because it is!!!!

Everyone talks about how prednisone hypes them up? Yeah not me...I get depressed, weepy, dang near despondent, and I'm never hungry on it. In fact, I lost 15 pounds on my month long course of it! Never mind it took a good two solid weeks for it to do anything for me!

Luckily, my doc put me on entocort this time, which is helping marginally but I don't have as bad side effects on it.

I have a love/hate relationship with prednisone. I hate the side affect, i.e. increased appetite, weight gain, moon face, hair falling out, sweating, bruising, slow wound healing, but it sure does clear up my flares.

Prednisone is easily the worst drug I've ever taken (could be tied with Humira). I started on 40 mg a day and immediately gained 40 lbs of water weight. I couldn't walk, bathe myself, lift myself from the bed, brush my hair. My limbs were just so heavy. This caused permanent neuropathy and restless leg syndrome in my feet/legs due to the lack of blood flow and constant numbness. It's probably irreversible since I've been off prednisone for about 1.5 years now. I also developed night sweats, costochondritis (chest cartilage inflammation), anxiety, anger freakouts, shakiness, and severe insomnia. I don't remember sleeping for more than 30 minutes at a time and when I did wake up, I'd have to change my clothes and sheets because they were soaking wet. I learned to wear little clothing/no clothing most of the time so I wasn't constantly changing. I ended up living downstairs for the 3.5 months time I was on prednisone because I wasn't able to walk up the stairs. I used a walker to get from the couch to the bathroom.



I will never take this drug again. My doctors were just so emphatic that it would help my UC. It didn't do anything for that either, so the time I was on it was a total waste.