What Prednisone does to your body, or atleast what it did to mine *disturbing pics!*

[drz]

Jack often posted about how pred and other meds had ruined his body and everyone seems to agree that the side effects can be horrible, but the alternative before the discovery and use of these horrible wonder meds that have kept us alive wasn't real great either. Remembering this doesn't make the side effects go away but it helps me deal with things to remember the alternative. Sorry for the distress it is causing and hope things get better. Hang tough and enjoy the support you get to help deal with this and other not so nice things too.

[HopeinTN]

Girl, I'm so sorry you have to not onlt go thru this dreadful disease but now this. Maybe they will disappear as fast as they came about. I'll be thinking of you and wishing you well. I too struggle with the weight gain and all the issues it has now caused, but liek many have said, it's better than the alternative. Tell that to my big booty.

Hang in there and I'm so proud of you for sharing, that had to be tough. But really, no one would have known how bad this was without seeing the pics.

You really are a beautiful lady. Take care!

[chrisTIn@]

My daughter ( she's your age) had some stretchmarks on her hips and tummy, but since she lost weight, the stretchmarks eventually got less visible (no so red).
Nowadays they can hardly be seen.

It's lovely that you have such a loving and humorous husband!
Still I can understand that this damage of your skin and connective tissue is at this time hard to accept for you.

I remember that during my pregnancy I was also very afraid to get stretchmarks, and that I tried to prevent that (from what I read in books and magazines about that matter, there was no internet at that time) by massaging my skin (rolling skin and connective tissue between my fingers to stimulate the bloodcirculation) and using creamy bodymilk to keep the skin supple. In my case, that treatment worked. I never got any stretchmarks during my pregnancy.
I know that damage already done (as in your case and the case of my daughter, in a period that she grew quickley) can be treated with specialized lotions. That kind of lotion and cream is available in Europe, and I 'm sure it will also be in the USA. You as a beauty-specialist will surely be able to find such creams, would'nt you? Good luck with that. My daughter sure benefitted from those creams. But it takes some time to see result.
About the tummy tuck: I totally agree with you that such an operation would be too risky. When you loose weight and you take moderate exersize that you slowly increase, you probably will get result. When your muscles and your abdominal wall get stronger through abdominal exercise (I repeat: start slowly, let your body get used to it, especially since you're still on pred) your tummy will get flatter over time, and your skin will be elastic enough -since you're still very young- to get into shape again.

Maybe you told it earlier, but is your doctor a real vasculitis specialist? With enough experience?
Can you get a second opinion about your treatment and the side effects in a vasculitis centre otherwise?

[carriej22]

Yes, my husband is a godsend. He never fussed, not even when I had to have him help me was my hair, etc when I was unable to do it.

I have tried several different creams. Both professional brands that I purchased through different wholesalers, as well as prescription creams. Unfortunately, as a Esthetician the main thing I preach is prevention. Once you get a stretch mark, the dermis has ripped/torn and even though over time the appearance will improve it's almost like a sort of scar. The creams did not do much at all. I began the creams before it was this bad, but they kept coming.. They were uncontrollable. I would wake up with many new ones, it was very, very frustrating.

From what I was told, prednisone can restrict the production of collagen and elastin fibers which is why I have so many. Even areas that have not gotten any larger (for example, I am still wearing all my same pants, yet my ankles (weird???) are covered) have these marks. My skin is like tissue paper right now. It's extremely soft and loose feeling. Very weird. It also sticks to itself. For example, when I'm in the shower I have to be very careful not to rip my skin. If I put my arms at my side the soft skin of my arm will literally stick to my underarm. It's quite painful sometimes, and my skin is constantly ripping and weeping.

I have a few doctors, but my main doctor is a rheumetologist. He treats quite a few other wegener's patients (well, many for the rarity of the disease) and I believe he is only 1 of 2 in the province that deal with it. I also didn't really get to pick my doctor. We need to be referred and he is who my family doctor suggested and referred me to.

I do not believe there are any vasculitis centers even in Atlantic Canada, however if another Canadian (seems to not be too many of us) could chime in on maybe where there IS one I would appreciate it,

[drz]

Prednisone does thin your skin. I remember when I was on higher dosages, and got a pedicure I was told they had to be real careful not to tear my skin because it was so thin. When you get to lower dosages this and other pred symptoms greatly improve but don't go away entirely.

[annekat]

Prednisone does thin your skin. I remember when I was on higher dosages, and got a pedicure I was told they had to be real careful not to tear my skin because it was so thin. When you get to lower dosages this and other pred symptoms greatly improve but don't go away entirely.

That is creepy. My skin seems thin to begin with. I wonder if that's why I got a hole in my skin in the crease between the corner of my eye and my nose. It first turned purplish and then two small holes appeared, each about the size of the head of a pin. Then they enlarged and merged to one hole about the size of an apple seed. It's mostly folded together so you can't see it, but it's kind of like having a third nostril. Gross, I know! Hope to get it fixed some day. I haven't had any striae, though, from stretching of skin. I see my hole as tissue death; this was not long after dx and the whole area around my eyes and cheeks was swollen and red. The docs weren't paying a lot of attention to it because my lungs were in such bad shape. So my doc increased my dose of CTX until the eye area got better. I was on the higher doses of pred at the time, too.

[Debbie C]

i was wondering if anyone is just taking pred. I'm still on 5 mg. and my stomach is so messed up ...it feels like I have an ulcer and recently I have been getting really bad stomach graps. My dr. took x-rays of my stomach the other day but he is off today so don't know the results.I think I may have him schedule me an upper endoscopy. my reumy prescribed me bactrim to take but I was given the generic which again another drug I can't take,it made my lab work go crazy so my kidney dr. told me to stop. Also is anyone getting the flu shot ???

[Pete]

Hi Debra,

I'm down to 5 mg/day of pred, but still taking bactrim and mtx (plus other meds for bp and asthma). I take my pred with food and have had no gastric problems. My pulmonologist thought I might have "silent GERD". I had the upper pH probe test done last spring and that showed no anomaly, so I decided against the endoscopy. No other symptoms noted.

I had a flu shot about a month ago. I've had no ill effects from it. The Columbus health dept says that hospitalizations for flue are way up this year (45 cases this month vs 4 for the same time period last year) and are recommending that everyone get a flu shot as they think we're in for a rough year.

[annekat]

Thanks for the advice on the flu shot, Pete. I've never gotten one and my doc thinks I should. I know there's been input both pro and con on this forum. My tendency is not to want to get one. But it's good to hear that you did and suffered no ill effects.

[Dirty Don]

I had a flu shot this year. No ill effects either. But, it was NOT a live virus...NO live viruses, er, virii...huh!?