OT - sort of - prednisone venting

[Guest guest]

Hi all. I have had a very rough day and need to vent a little bit.

For the last several days my " side effect " symptoms have majorly

intensified. My stomach has gained over 4 inches, the shakes are

driving me nuts, I am sweating all the time, the rash is twice as bad

as it was, back in compression hose because I have started retaining

water in a major way again, peak flows are fluctuating too much,

nausea, extra fatigue and it is raining today..... So, I called my

workers comp nurse this morning & she sent me directly to the

endocronologist. It seems that I am having withdrawal symptoms from

the prednisone. She also thinks that I may be in the very early

stages of renal failure which would be caused by the withdrawal! So,

now I go backwards. Back up to 55mg/day for the rest of this week and

two more weeks. Then we will try to start a taper again at a rate of

2.5mg/day every two weeks instead of 5. Then if I have symptoms we

will have to stop it again and up the methotrexate. I am so

frustrated. I was so excited. I was supposed to drop to 45mg/day

starting Monday. She said I have just been on such high doses for so

long that my body doesn't want to let it go! AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

Thanks for listening. Feel better already.

Madeline