A rant...

[Lightwarrior]

If a man is openly expressing an opinion, and there's no woman within earshot, is he still wrong?
Hammy the answer to this question is obviously yes. (LOL)

[Sangye]

Why??? I think they hate my stinking guts (okay that's the pred talking) It is because I started having 4+ pitting edema bilateraly up past my knees and my rheumy said that was a side effect of pred. I felt like a giant swollen and unable to walk or move. Before lowering the pred this fast they tried lasix, didn't help added zaroxolyn (metolazone) and increased my PO K+ to 60 a day and my K+ still dropped to 2.8, which our wonderful lab didn't report to my Doc for 4 days. If I can't handle the drop then he said we will slow down to 1mg a month. I'm about ready to cry uncle.

Oh LightWarrior, I don't think you should do this to yourself. I have swelling like that and know how bad it can be. However, if you irritate the adrenal glands you will also cause huge swelling. Take it slow, let your body adapt and you'll get there. Remember, you gotta sneak away from the Wegs dog.

[Lightwarrior]

Oh LightWarrior, I don't think you should do this to yourself. I have swelling like that and know how bad it can be. However, if you irritate the adrenal glands you will also cause huge swelling. Take it slow, let your body adapt and you'll get there. Remember, you gotta sneak away from the Wegs dog.

I've tried hard to keep that dog asleep and this seems counter-intuitive to that process. I'm at 6mg now, should I fight to do 1mg a month?

[ArlaMo]

I'm just going to ditto Sangye. I hate pred...

[Sangye]

I've tried hard to keep that dog asleep and this seems counter-intuitive to that process. I'm at 6mg now, should I fight to do 1mg a month?

If there is no compelling reason that requires tapering that fast, then it seems it's not worth the risk to do it. When I was originally treated with pred and ctx my lousy rheumy speed-tapered me and that kept the Wegs dog awake. It took 4 more years to get it to sleep and my adrenals never did come back online. You've been on it for awhile. Dr Seo always emphasizes how you have to taper it very slowly when you've been on it for an extended amount of time.

[Chris G]

Dr Seo always emphasizes how you have to taper it very slowly when you've been on it for an extended amount of time.

How long is an extended period of time???

[freakyschizogirl]

I HATE Pred!!

Never wanted to take Steroids but its that or die right? I hate what it does to my body and to my mind. I HATE Pred head, Pred rage and Pred moon face.

I used to be fairly intelligent, well i could construct whole sentences without long thoughful pauses, saying "oh, thingy bob" and could type like a "normal" person instead of mixing my words and spelling things phonetically instead of literally.

[Widthofacircle]

Hi All
I was diagnosed 2 years ago and have been down the cyclo, pred, cellcept roads and indeed still am but isn,t it amazing that, similar to others here it,s the calcium pill that gets me. I am in Ireland and this pill is known as Fosamac here. Same requirements for taking in the morning, loads of water, stay upright etc.
However I find Pred really scary and thankfully am on low dosage now, 5mg, so have slowly but surely been returning to normal features as distinct from the stranger in the mirror I had become while on high dosage

[Jack]

Pred seems to provoke the same reaction from us all. It keeps us alive and can reduce many symptoms, but at one hell of a price in long term health. Its side effects have reduced me to a cripple!

[Sangye]

Sam, I hear you. Stinkin' pred.

ChrisG, once someone has been on pred for a year or more, it's much harder to taper.