Prednisone... The Not Four Letters Four Letter Word

I've had a few family members and friends that have had to take this medicine, however I never really knew the details on the side effects that could possibly occur with it. I thankfully have not had many of these, but I just thought I'd list some of the possibilities from long time use of this drug which more than likely I will have to be on throughout the rest of my life -

• indigestion
• nervousness or restlessness
• darkening or lightening of skin color
• dizziness or lightheadedness
• flushing of face or cheeks
• hiccups
• increased sweating
• sensation of spinning
• increased appetite
• confusion
• excitement
• false sense of well-being
• hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there)
• mental depression
• mistaken feelings of self-importance or being mistreated
• mood swings (sudden and wide)
• restlessness
• skin rash or hives

And the list goes on...

One last note - Whenever you stop taking prednisone or change the amount of prednisone you are taking your body may need time to adjust to this. The body has to learn that it must now start making more of it's normal steroid production in order to compensate for the reduction in the amount that it is/or had been receiving from the prednisone. Possible side effects from this include -

• joint pain
• muscle pain
• fatigue
• headache
• fever
• low blood pressure
• nausea and vomiting

Which is the main reason I wrote this particular blog because I recently had a reduction in my prednisone dosage and have been having a headache off and on. We called the doctor yesterday and he said I shouldn't be having a headache from the prednisone and to try taking some Ibuprofen since I can't have Tylenol. Still need to try this out but I'm hoping it will just go away. Ugh. Had a rough weekend and today it came back around. Just feeling achy this morning. I found that sometimes it can take 2-7 days for the body to adjust to the change in prednisone. Let's hope I start to feel better soon!