Prednisone is used in conditions where inflammation is present; conditions such as asthma, Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn's Disease, various skin conditions, and other ailments.
In my case, prednisone was used to help treat inflammation which caused my intestinal bleeding and diarrhea. When I started taking this medicine, I thought for sure my health was on the up and up. I could eat whatever I wanted. And enjoy it! I had energy to get up and go. Staying at home was now no fun. I had practically been confined to home for months prior to this. I could stay awake easily too, instead of feeling like life was draining from my body. Exhaustion seemed non-existent now. Surely my health must be improving between this medication and the others I was taking. Life could go on.
But all of those "good" things about taking this medication started to take on a negative appearance.
After a little while of taking prednisone, vanity had set in. I had finally seen a picture of my post- prednisone self. A side effect of the medication is call moon face. And did I ever have it! I saw myself in the mirror everyday, and yet, I never noticed the drastic swelling in my face and over my whole body. I developed stretch marks on my sides, legs, and arms because of the rapid swelling. It took me several years before I became comfortable wearing shorts and sleeveless tops. This sudden awareness opened my eyes and started my dislike for this medication.
There were times throughout my journey, when the flare-ups occurred (the disease rearing its ugly head), that I'd be on 100 mg of prednisone as my starting dose. And over a course of many weeks, the medication would be scheduled out to where I was able to taper off the medication slowly and safely. I couldn't wait for the last pill to be gone.
Prednisone made me crave sweet and salty foods constantly. And it has adverse effects on blood pressure and blood sugar. Eating whatever I wanted wasn't really all that great because eating the foods I craved was not helping my blood pressure or my blood sugar. Plus there was rapid weight gain (from the swelling and ravenous appetite) which to a point is good as I was so thin. But only to a point. I wasn't gaining weight in a healthy manner.
I may have felt like going out of the house more, but now I was self-conscious of my appearance. I was swollen all over. There were major acne breakouts, which for a teenage girl is horrible! And increased hair growth (that I still unfortunately have to struggle with and is also horrible!).
And I wasn't just energized. I actually had trouble going to sleep and staying asleep as I was getting a constant buzz of prednisone pumping through me.
Then, there were the heart palpitations. If I got up too quickly or moved too fast, my heart would take off, beating so hard and so fast and it felt like it would come out of my chest. My whole body felt like it was being shaken. And it was very uncomfortable. All I could do was sit and wait for it to pass.
And the hardest part of the prednisone therapy for me was the emotional and mental games it played. I was up one minute and down the next. I'd be ready to take on the world just long enough to find that what I really just wanted was to stay in my own little world. And stuff would irritate me so easily. If someone were tapping their foot on the floor, tapping a pencil on a desk, or maybe just humming, simple stuff like that would get under my skin. I could barely stand it. This side effect sometimes feels as though it's permanent to a lesser extreme (My husband says that it is definitely permanent!).
Probably the most well known complication of long term use of prednisone is the toil it takes on your bones and joints. It can lead to osteoporosis. I periodically have bone density checks now and I still take a Calcium supplement daily.
An annoyance of the actual swallowing of the the prednisone tablet was when the pill wouldn't go down smoothly. The phrase "swallow a bitter pill" became literal with this one. Because it was definitely bitter and not a medication you would want to linger on your tongue. It was a chalky pill with no outer coating, and it would start dissolving upon contact with my tongue and would taste
awful.
I know the benefits to prednisone use can sometimes outweigh the risks. It gave me temporary relief of my symptoms and bought time for my doctor to provide me as much help as possible. But I pray to never have to take anything like it again.
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