Evil Prednisone!

Yes the moon face goes away - not as quickly as you would like but it does. I do think however that a couple of my chins came from prednisone. I used to say I looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Kasha I'm sorry you are having a flare - do yo uusually respond to prednisone quickly?

Yes,,, but it is just taking a little longer than usually, plus it has made my Lupus flare too, so I am just a mess :laugh: honestly I can take the pain and everything else that comes along with it... I just really worry about my platelets I don't like them being low and not having that control over them.

You are a mess Kasha
But you are in a pretty good club of those of us who are a mess too - just think how boring life would be if we were "normal" [that probably would be a good boring don't you think?!]. I understand what you mean about not having control, it would be nice if we did but we don't. My ITP isn't secondary like yours. Hope your flare is short-lived and your count is decent!

I am sooo happy I found you guys... many people don't understand my platelet frustrations so it is nice to be in good company... We are all a HOT MESS! Hee Hee

I've decided it's my time to vent about prednisone. I was a healthy 22 year old college athlete just getting home from a fun spring break when I was diagnosed. I was never a "skinny" person but I've always been a very fit and healthy person. The weeks going on to spring break I was probably in the best shape I've ever been thanks to training for a half marathon. 10 weeks later and a month on 80mg and tapering I'm 35lbs heavier with acne like a 15yr old, not to mention the wonderful moon face (my mom and I call it my miss piggy face, I'm trying to deal with all of this with humor, but the laugh is up). I demanded to my hemo that I get taken off pred as fast as possible. After a rough start of tapering I am finally off of this Evil evil medicine. Now my question to previous prednisone victims is how long till this weight comes off? I'm already a healthy eater and a regular at the gym. However once I was dropped to 5mg I've lost all motivation to workout, but I'm hoping I can force myself this week to at least get an hour a day in. Any advice to help the weight loss speed up? It's summertime and I would love to feel confident in my swimsuit and clothes again. -Katherine

Katherine:

You should be able to lose it soon. A lot of it is water retention which goes away by itself. Exercise as much as you can, watch the sugar and salt, and you'll be back to normal soon.

Yes, Prednisone is EVIL. At first I was on it for a couple years off and on. I lost my taste, poor sleep, shakey, loss of appitite. Counts went up then down with tappering off.

I can't wait to be able to say I am off of it... Congrats to you and the positive results!

Evil prednisone put me in a remission for over 8 years - but in spite of that I don't like it. My highest dose was 60mg - if had been on 80mg I probably would have gone nuts!

Glad you are off it - how is your count?

You are young, you will get rid of the weight in due time and easier than us oldies did. Get back to your healthy eating and gym time.

By the way - I said I looked like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Everytime they took me down on prednisone my numbers went down, I did an IVIg treatment a few weeks ago, as of monday my platelets are at 113,000!!! I was able to motivate myself to workout this week and I think my face is finally going back to normal. I'm also starting to feel a little more like my happy go lucky self, instead of the depressed person I've been since starting prednisone.

-Katherine