Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Prednisone Headache

Question:
I was put on 60 mg/day prednisone for 10 days (with no tapering) to try to break cluster headache. It worked, but after about four days, the side effects quickly became overwhelming, and are still tearing me up: not only hunger, thirst, urination, but sleeplessness, feeling nuts, wired, lethargic, wasted, crazy, turgid (the only word I know to describe the feeling), and more. I cut way down after about two days of mind-body torture, and got limp and shaky while still feeling nuts. (Withdrawal?) My sleep and dreams are still tortured. Neruro is not real helpful -- told me it was o.k. to cut down after I'd already done so as a matter of survival. I'm also taking 360 mg/day of timed-release verapmil and 2 mg/day (that's right, 2!) of Paxil, the effects of which medications I know are not responsible for my symptoms. Anybody know much about prednisone, like how I might get cluster prevention without such horrid effects, whether it's advisable to prescribe that large a dose for a 130-lb, person, whether it's advisable to not prescribe a tapering dose, or how fast the prednisone's protective aspect will now likely wear off?

Answer:
I've been on Prednisone for 2 1/2 years. For a whole years I was on 90 mg. and then the following year I slowly went down to 30 mg. (took me the whole year to do it). The last 5 months I was able to get down to 7 mg. until my accident (broke both my legs). Evidently the trauma to my legs caused my lupus to flair up. My doctor raised it to 30 mg. 2 weeks ago but this past Friday, the lab work showed lupus was a full blown flair, so he raised the Pred. to 60 mg. I'm 5'6 and used to weigh 114 lbs. (pure muscle & lots of it) but went down to 92 lbs. I still haven't been able to get to l00 lbs. I weighed 92 lbs. when I was on 90 mg. The Prednisone doesn't affect you according to your weight. As far as for migraine, the Pred. never affected it one way or another. One thing I do want to do is caution you not to mess with the dosage yourself. Prednisone is a corticosteriod, a hormone, very dangerous if withdrawn in high doses. Don't *ever* stop taking it yourself- it can be fatal to do that. Your body quits manufacturing this hormone, which is necessary for life, once you start taking it artifically, for a long period of time. And once you get to the lower doses, it'll be even harder to cut down. 7 mg. is about the amount the body manufactures normally. Once you get off it at l mg. at a time, it takes about a year for your body to fully manufacturer it naturally. But this is for long term usage. You probably won't have to do this since you won't be on it that long. I just wanted to make sure you understood that this is a very dangerous medication you're dealing with. Don't be adjusting, whether up or down, yourself. It's difficult for the doctors to do it themselves, as it is. Good luck and hope it helps your migraine. Btw, the only side-effect I had of all those you mentioned, was hunger. I ate but didn't gain weight.