Prednisone help please? :(

So basically the doc put me on Prednisone to try and help with possible inflammation in seminal vesicle and suppress my immune system a little.

He put me on basically a months worth.

Hi all

First off im sorry because my condition is/was not related to ulcerative colitis but I know that patients in that group are frequently prescribed steroids specifically prednisone and would have the most experience. Besides didnt see a Male reproductive forum or something alone those lines and doesnt fit prostate cancer. so sorry if its wrong forum. But I do need help.



Started at 5mg for a few days only like 3-4?

Then 10mg for 3 days or so then on to 20mg then to 30mg then to 40mg then at max 40mg split into 2 doses morning and late afternoon and slowly back down to 30mg morning and 30mg afternoon and then 30mg only morning and then 20mg and then 17.5, 15, 12.5, 10, 7.5, 5 for a few days and stopped.

So basically hit the peak within about 2 weeks and then started dropping down. Im male 24 otherwise healthy and pre prednisone perfect cortisol scores.

got all the sides acne easy brusing feet hand swelling moon face etc etc etc.

now the problem is though I had stopped prednisone even after a few days my feet and hand remained swollen and I still couldnt sleep hot flushes etc.
So I dont know what to do.

Doc reckons at my age and health and only 1 month treatment(even though high dosage at time) including tapering I should be okay and maybe its just my body readjusting. Said if i was old eg in my 50s with other complications then way slower taper and many other considerations to take into acccount. Infact he said I could even stop stone cold dead though its better to taper.

I could go back on a low dose pred eg 5mg mornings or even 2.5mg but he reckons that might set back my already starting adrenal glands but for how long and what should I do??? Suggested I though it out and wear high compression stockings, drink lots of water, take diuretics if needed, eat healthy low sodium and exercise till eventually hopefullly my body returns to normal. However my back when exercise gets tight extremely quickly, im a muscular guy and when I work out it get so tense and cramped I can barely manage to walk out without lots and lots of pauses to my car and then rest for a little.
He reckons its the prednisone.

And reckons its too early to do a natural cortisol test again too but wait for another 2 weeks.

Any ideas if what Im being told and how i was directed to taper down is correct etc? and what im told post pred is correct or what to do?

Hi samwell,

It does sound like a fast taper, but you haven't been on it for too long, and it seems like your doc wants to get you off it quickly. If you can stick it out and you trust what your doctor is saying, i would try to do without the pred - if you're on it for too long it's quite difficult to get off it again - I've been on it for over a year now and am steroid dependent, I'm being weaned off but still on 10mg even after all this time.

The hot flushes, insomnia, swollen feet are all Pred side-effects - it may be that it's still getting out of your system, and hopefully it should subside.

However, if you're feeling really unwell it might be worth getting a second opinion. It's only a bit of rough advice, as generally with UC we're put on steroids for longer periods and tapered slower (to give other medications a chance to start working), so it is difficult to say if your doctor is right or wrong in your case.

This link: http://arthritis.about.com/od/prednisone/f/withdrawaltaper.htm gives a little general info about steroid tapers and withdrawal. Hope it's some help. (Edit: you'll have to type that link in, I'm afraid - it doesn't seem to work if you just click on it for some reason).

That's a pretty impressive prednisone schedule. For UC, and I don't have a clue about other diseases, Prednisone is started at the most potent quantity from the start. Like say starting at 40mg and tapering down like my gastroenterologists has me do. THe quick start really calms down symptoms fast and really gives me no ill effects. Only after some time on it I get acne.
Oh yeah, prednisone is strong, but I have never expected it to work in 1 month especially not when tapering during that month.
If you decide to use prednisone just make sure you get off as fast as possible and don't forget the extra calcium for the bones...

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Thank you so much guys for the replies and heres an update!


Now I had talked to my doc and actually according to his schedule it seems like it was more like almost 1month 2weeks inc tapering.


I asked him about the reasoning for tapering up and max dose and down again and short duration compared to other with say UC etc He said 1st If I started at the max dose based on my body weight of around 80mg from day 1. The sides on me would have been much more severe and pronounced would no time for my body to try and adjust. 2nd at such a dose my adrenal gland would be much more severely affected and shut down had I started it from the beginning. 3rd the tapering is short in duration because he believes its best for me to get off the prednisone fast and let my own adrenal glands get back online asap.


I asked him why the differences in treatment methodologies compared to other diseases say UC and he said UC is a much more aggressive disease and treatment and doses and the treatment protocol for it also is much more aggressive for it for the same reasons.

Whereas in my case he said you either have inflammation in your seminal vesicle or somewhere along your ducts and maybe even a partial block which prednisone may help depending on what factor is at play. 1 month should show improvements and if necessary then it can be continued for upto 3 months. Before that serrapeptase, voltaren, maxflow, quercetin, bromelain had been tried and voltaren switched over to arcoxia a powerful cox2 inhibitor even whilst on prednisone.


But whats of concern to me is since my last post almost 2 weeks ago i am still getting the sides though some improvements from what i can tell.
The swelling is still there especially in my feet some days its fine but i noticed on days ive consumed salt i swell up like a balloon!
I can sleep better now not perfect but better and without pills.
I still bruise easily :(
Hot flushes seems reduced but still get them now and then.
Sudden weird feeling hottness and need for like carbs or salt or something to eat is getting less.
Moon face is getting less (so im being told by others)


Now whats really worrying me is almost consistently swollen feet and seems like i might be getting these red lines now in it. THE DOC SAYS DONT EAT ANYYYYY SALT AND TAKE THE LASIX to get whatever you happen to consume in normal food out! Is this all I can do? He says theres nothing else that can be done until my glands start functioning.



The other thing thats worrying me is the incredible weight gain!
I was around 95kg and seems within that 1.5months im around 105kg??? IS THIS FOR REAL????? I workout reallly hard and my BF seems to be like 25% now
Then I Have chicken corn soup or say fries or salty food and ill weigh around almost 112kg!!!!!! But the BF says im 23.5% ??????
The weights are definately accurate and my scale is the best out there but maybe the BF isnt being accurate now?

still that much weight?



What should I do to improve things?????



And today got my blood tested to see my natural cortisol levels got to wait 2 days for results. Before pred it was around 16.3 perfect apparently. Had a blood panel test 1 week ago which showed triple WBC around 19mil when my normal count was around 7 and CRP 3+ normal 0 and cholesterol a bit skewed. The doc said the results are all normal of prednisone.

Post Edited (samwell) : 7/22/2008 4:01:15 AM (GMT-6)