Re:82 years old and on Prednisone

August 25, 2007

As an RN who has worked in the ED and ICU, I have seen very large doses of

steroids given as a single dose and then tapered off, as you describe. Since it

is not something she will take forever, it shouldn't cause her any problems.

And she was obviously having a very risky reaction to that bee sting, which, at

86, could have had devastating results if not treated very aggressively. It

isn't evil candy when given that way, it's rescue medicine : -)

And congratulations on your wonderful response to Xolair.

Carol

My 82 year old mother in law lives with us. She normally has trouble

remembering things and is cranky and very worrysome.

She got bit by a bee on her hand yesterday and the bite became

extremely, red, swollen and was growing all the way up her arm to her

elbow.

We took her to the ER and the doctor loaded her up on 2 KINDS of evil

candy. First a Decadron shot, then a 60 mg burst and taper dose of

Pred, plus a week of Benedryl. THAT MUCH EVIL CANDY??? Good grief, she

only weighs 95 pounds dripping wet.

In all my years of taking that stuff, I have NEVER had that high of

dose in my life. She has very bad osteoporosis and extremely brittle

bones as it is.

That doctor gave her enough Evil candy in pill and shot form to choke

a horse. As you can imagine, she is bouncing off the walls, extremely

confused and giving my wife and I nutz. Today, her arm is MUCH

better. It ought to be after that much evil candy.

I asked myself..... " was I THAT bad when I was on that stuff???

I must have driven my family and co workers batty!!!! "

Yes, the side effects of Pred and steroids are EVIL but sometimes,

they are the only things that we can take. One only other good thing

about this is that mom needs to gain weight. I am sorry she will do it

this way.

THANK GOD AND XOLAIR that I don't have to take it anymore.

Doug

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