prednisone

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Oystereatingcrabs

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Aug 6, 2009
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so i recently went to the doctor and was prescribed prednisone for my breathing (never had breathing problems but ive been smoking a lot lately and i think that is the cause) along with antibiotics for my lung infection. The dose ive been prescribed is 6 pills the first day, 5 the second, 4, 3, 2, 1 and stop the 7th day. Now my question is; is this enough prednisone to cause facial swelling, or any of the other unwanted side effects? I guess im asking if anyone has ever heard of any of the nasty effects happening after a week of using?
 
I don't know if others have had those effects but I've taken prednisone and not had any unwanted effects. I took it for a huge allergic reaction on my foot when my foot decided to turn purple.

...does this technically belong in Steroid discussion, or maybe HL?
 
Oystereatingcrabs said:
so i recently went to the doctor and was prescribed prednisone for my breathing (never had breathing problems but ive been smoking a lot lately and i think that is the cause) along with antibiotics for my lung infection. The dose ive been prescribed is 6 pills the first day, 5 the second, 4, 3, 2, 1 and stop the 7th day. Now my question is; is this enough prednisone to cause facial swelling, or any of the other unwanted side effects? I guess im asking if anyone has ever heard of any of the nasty effects happening after a week of using?
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it is very possible as prednisone is known to cause fluid and sodium retention...some antibiotics can also cause some swelling and inflammation as well...if you've never taken it before I'd call your doc and ask as you could actually be having an allergy attack or other negative reaction to the prednisone or other medication that you are on

I'd up you water intake and lower your sodium intake as much as possible...this should help out some

@pc hmmm well it is technically a steroid just not the type of steroid that we normally discuss in here...:?
 
Short courses of prednisolone are taken by many people for asthma, ezcema, even children can take short doses without side effects so I wouldn't worry about side effects if you are on a one off weekly course, espceially the way you are taking it (which is a very small dose schedule for an adult male).
 
The moon face problem you're talking about is possible from taking oral corticosteroids but all the cases I have heard about are in cases when the person was taking the drug long terms (like several months/years) for conditions like Chrohn's disease or inflammatory bowel disease etc.

Asthmatic people that forget to use their inhaled steroids properly often lose control of their asthma and need to be rescued with these stronger oral corticosteroids. But usually a short course like you are taking of 1mg per kg of weight up to 50mg for a week is all they need.

In short I'm sure your doctor knows what they are doing and you'll be fine if you take them.

note: is it kind of ironic that so many asthmatics don't take their inhaled "steroids" because they are fearful of anabolic steroid side effects and hear you are asking about corticosteroid side effects on an anabolic steroid forum.
 
Hi, new poster - I was prescribed a week long course of prednisolone for a asthma reversability test (common when testing the efficacy of current asthma treatment) this was given to me by a nurse not a doctor and without an advice leaflet, which I would normally insist upon but in a moment of laxness! didnt think too much of it . I took 50mg in the morning and within the hour was set upon by the most unholy of panic attacks! plunging depression abdominal pain and general hideousnous!. I called my doctor immeadiately who told me to cease the the course and then I looked up the advice online. It says that you should consult your g.p if you suffer from any mental health conditions before taking this med - I suffer from Bipolar 2 disorder but this wasnt picked up on at all before perscription! - further research revealed entire support groups set up to help "survivors" of this potentially dangerous drug - the list of side effects is a mile long and seems to effect a wide range of people - please take with caution!!
 
Nodgers experience represents a small fraction of those with dramatic reactions to prednisone, so heres a more typical reaction:

I've taken up to six pills a day for up to 2 months on a number of occasions due to ulcerative colitis, and experienced no noticeable side effects whatsoever. I take mirtazapine for depression, as well.

my experience is far more typical of the average prednisone user, and yours probably will be too! the dose your doctor is putting you on is very low with a lengthy taper, so there shouldnt be any issues.
 
I think Nodgers experience reflects the fact that nurses really shouldn't be making decisions on who takes prescription drugs. I know there are some really top notch nurses out there but generally speaking nursing study is not designed towards making these decisions and a doctor's is.

I have no medical qualifications at all however even I know the gold standard for asthma reversibility is a spirometry test followed by a standard dose of salbutomol (ventolin and others) followed by another spirometry test 4-6 minutes later to see if your any of the obstruction in your airways has reversed. A test like that is just stupid given that so many other variables could have also changed by the end of the course of prednisolone and even more stupid when there is an easy proven method of testing.

I have however heard of asthmatics that have taken prednisolone and had quite bad mood swings and generally had it drive them crazy but given the alternative of potentially dieing or having damage occur to their lungs they do it. Quite often several times in their lives.
 
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