A new symptom

[Rita.M]

This is more on my left side than my right but my foot feels a bit like pins & needles.
Is this one the symptoms of wegs ? Also I can't sleep , probably get about 3hrs per night.
Am on 45mg pred. & take that in the morning . Is it alright to take sleeping tablets ? Am a bit reluctant to add another drug to my list.
RitaM

[Dirty Don]

I have a 'dropped' left foot, basically it's a numbed/tingling feeling across the top of the foot extending down the big toe which I can no longer control. With shoes on, I'm OK, but it seems the carpet has gotten taller at home!! Ha! It IS a symptom of WG as many of the tingles and numbnesses you feel are. Pred causes many peeps on this forum to not sleep well...I haven't encountered that too much. I wouldn't take any 'outside' meds w/o consulting my doc(s). Best to be safe there...I/the docs 'accidentally' mixed a blood pressure med with Albuterol for me just out of ICU this summer, by the time I got home, it was lowering my BP too much, and the Albuterol was 'pumping' me up...so my body decided to pass out and I face planted one day...stopped THAT little cocktail on my own, doc concurred after the fact! Best of luck to you!!

[Al]

This is more on my left side than my right but my foot feels a bit like pins & needles.
Is this one the symptoms of wegs ? Also I can't sleep , probably get about 3hrs per night.
Am on 45mg pred. & take that in the morning . Is it alright to take sleeping tablets ? Am a bit reluctant to add another drug to my list.
RitaM

Rita, the neuropathy is a common problem among weggies, I am sorry to say. I am also sorry to say that for most weggies, it is just something to live with.

The sleeplessness I call pred insomnia. Personally, I would avoid sleeping pills for a lot of reasons. When I was on high dose pred, I kept a notebook on my nightstand. When I lay awake, I would go into the bathroom and write two or three pages until I started to get foggy again, then sleep for a while. In the morning, I couldn't read my scribblings, of course, but they did their job.

Al

[Sangye]

Rita, make sure your Wegs doc knows about the pins and needles. It may require an increase in dosage of your main immunosuppresant or switching to a more powerful one if there are other signs of peripheral neuropathy.

I'm not a fan of adding sleeping aids to counter the pred, because it throws your body all over the place. Imagine drinking a ton of coffee and then taking a sleeping pill. It'd be really hard on your body! In the early days my docs put me on temazepam (ristoral) to help me sleep. It worked well for about a week, and then it actually kept me up. I later learned that it causes all sorts of problems and definitely doesn't fix insomnia. (In fact, it wears off after 4 hours and leaves you wide awake) It causes depression big-time. And it is physically addicting. Thank goodness a friend who's a counselor noticed I was on it and told me how bad it is.

[drz]

This is more on my left side than my right but my foot feels a bit like pins & needles.
Is this one the symptoms of wegs ? Also I can't sleep , probably get about 3hrs per night.
Am on 45mg pred. & take that in the morning . Is it alright to take sleeping tablets ? Am a bit reluctant to add another drug to my list.
RitaM

It sounds like neuropathy which can happen with GPA. Problems sleeping seem natural part of pred, especially at higher dosages. Just nap when you can if you can do so and try rest other times. Doing something like reading or other projects might also help pass the time till you feel tired enough to nap again. I finished lots of books this way when recuperating at nursing home after release from long hospital stay. Some thing boring like working on your taxes or insurance claims or cleaning a closet can make you tired quick if it doesn't upset you too much.