Prednisolone works by preventing or reducing inflammation. It is used to treat a number of conditions that has excessive inflammation as a symptom. It can suppress the immune system and so can be used to treat autoimmune diseases such as, Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis or Arthristis. People who take corticosteroids for a long period of time are prone to infections as their immune system can become weak. These infections may be much more severe than they usually would be and the symptoms that would usually be used to identify such infections can be hidden such as Shingles. For this reason people who take Prednisolone must be careful to avoid exposure to infections such as chickenpox and measles whenever possible. If you have been given a steroid warning card (blue within the UK), make sure you carry it with you at all times while you are taking corticosteroids. These cards are normally given to you by your prescriber or by your pharmacist. If you are currently taking corticosteroids, or have taken them in the last year, you must tell everyone involved in prescribing you medicines and giving you medical treatment. This includes your doctor, dentist, nurse and pharmacist. You must make sure that they all know about your corticosteroid treatment, such as start date, finish date and dosage.
I was on 40mg for a week the reduced by 5mg each week until 20mg for 4weeks then reduced again by 5mg until 0mg. I had numerous side effect which included:
- acne
- appetite gain
- clotting problems
- bruising
- difficulty sleeping
- distension of the stomach due to bloating
- eye or eyesight problems
- feeling dizzy (mainly after I reduced from 25mg)
- general feeling of being unwell
- headaches and migraines especially when reducing each week
- healing problems as cuts and bruises took weeks to heal properly
- increased sweating
- indigestion
- irregular menstrual periods
- itching
- metabolic problems
- mood swings
- muscle problems
- musclepain or tenderness
- nausea
- slightly raised blood pressure
- skin rash or rashes
- stomach pain
- thinning of the skin
- tiredness
- vertigo
- water retention
- weight gain
- withdrawal symptoms
- worsening of eye or eyesight problems
When taking any steriods for long periods of time it is advised to be on a stomach lining tablet as it can affect the stomach. It was 2weeks into the course that the doctors realised why I was getting severe stomach pains worse than normal from the Crohn's Disease and it was due to no tablets to protect my stomach lining. As soon as they realised I was put on Omeprazole 40mg daily to prevent the pains. When I finally finished the course I had put on the five stone which I initally lost.
