Hi Anaziz,
The pace of the pred reduction may be intentional, even though it is faster than many of us would do. I would ask the doc.
I take propranolol when the pred gets ugly and it helps me with several aspects of the glucocorticoid issues caused by taking prednisone.
As far as eye pain - this article came up http://www.sanantonioeyeinstitute.co...N-Glaucoma.pdf
Basically saying, yep, we've known it can hurt eyes for many years...
As far as glucocorticoids and hypertension, here is a quote from a medical article from The Journal of the American Society of Nephrology:
"Patients treated with glucocorticoids for a variety of diverse diseases and those with Cushing syndrome often manifest hypertension. Despite the importance of this clinically relevant problem, the mechanism whereby glucocorticoids increase BP remains an enigma."
Cruise around the National Library of Medicine if you really wanna have a good time!
There is so much stuff out there on these things but often it is from different specialty fields. Not sure why they don't always transfer that info to each other.
For me, the prednisone (glucocorticoid) had a very big affect on my cholesterol (also pretty well documented scientifically but I'm too lazy to search it now).
My eyes get serious pain and vision problems from wegeners itself. At high doses the pred causes pressure that I can feel as well as vision loss. At 7mg I can barely detect it if I concentrate.
Hypertension was a very common problem when I took prednisone without anything to counteract the negative stimulatory affect it has on the HPA Axis.
Through much painful trial and error the docs finally found some meds that specifically counteracted my Adverse Glucocorticoid Reaction. Even with those it's hard at high doses.
Jane Pauley from NBC ended up with permanent damage from pred. It's a necessary but risky med. I owe my life to it but it has caused me enormous amounts of trouble and pain.
Not everyone has that level of glucocorticoid problems. For the first 16 years of wegeners I took 60 mg of pred w / no problem. Could go up and down and manage it fine with some well timed exercise, meditation and nutrition. Sure, i'd get moody, energized, hard to sleep that kind of stuff but there is a whole other level to that basic prednisone effect.
Once the wegs hit the brain I got a walloping dose of Solu Medrol 1gram /day pulse therapy for three days (equal to 1250 mg / day of pred). That probably saved my life but it ruined some parts of my system.
One part is that I can't tolerate even the tiniest dose of glucocorticoids without serious reactions. You'r dad is most certainly not having this level of a reaction or you'd be saying stuff like, "My dad is sharpening sticks and digging holes in the woods." stuff like that or maybe "My dad can't get out of bed he's so sick and his blood pressure is so high!" So that's good.
I pray he has a great success with the Rituxan and can control his disease without the need for pred. but if he does need it, don't be afraid to put some pressure on his docs to address the pred symptoms.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Tom
Best wishes,
Tom
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2 years untreated. Dx w/ biopsy - 2000
Tx Plan:
NUTRITION
RESTORATIVE SLEEP
RAISE ANABOLISM
REDUCE ALL INT / EXT STRESSORS
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