Holy Cow Prednisone!!!!!

My daughter is 6 years old and 50 pounds going on 200 pounds. Just kidding. She has only gained a pound but her appetite is insane! She eats more in one day than I do in 3 days. Thank goodness she loves veggies or we would be in trouble. We went to a salad bar tonight and it was appetite heaven. lol.. Gave me a break from slicing veggies. I have to find humor in this somehow. Anyway, Just wondering how your kiddos respond to prednisone. She has had short bursts before but this time they did 40mg for 7 days, 20mg for 3 days, and were on 15 now for 3 days then 10, 5 and 2.5 each for 3 days. Her platelets usually sit at safe counts above 50 but some viruses slam them down. Her hematologist treats at 30. That's our comfort zone. So, this time she was at 23 on a monday and started prednisone that evening. She takes half in the morning and half at night. By friday morning platelets were at 211,000!!! WOW!!! Then her last day of 20mg count was 370,000. Its a pretty fast taper so we will see what happens but they seem amazed at her response. Is this the norm for prednisone? The first winrho she had took her up to 549,000 and counts stayed normal for a year. Then next winrho wasnt as great but it definately made them rise. Ivig Shot them up to 406,000 but probably higher since she got petechia at that number so I figured she was much higher and had a fast drop. It seems like everytime they do pred it calms it down some. This is the 3rd time in a little over a year but this time theres a taper. Hope to here of others experiences with this. She tolerates it well other than the hunger and this time got a little moody but not bad. Short lived. Hope everyones doing well )

A fast rise is normal if a person is responsive. I have high jumps like that from Prednisone.

I also had an appetite like that! Veggies are good ~ I'm glad she likes them.

Since you had high jumps in counts like that... Did they fall during a fast taper or after the prednisone was done? I'm not too sure what to expect this time. It seems like they try something different with pred everytime. Almost looking for a remission. When she does the 5 days of 40 mg and 3 days of 20mg she didnt drop fast or very low. Started hanging out in the 70's and 80's which is amazing to me. Totally safe!!! Do alot of people respond well? It just wierded me out when I saw the doc and nurses face. One more thing. I know it raises the wbc also and they said 15 is totally normal. I have no experience with that before? It's her neutrophils that are high not lymphocytes and her moncocytes slighlty high.

Variations in white cells are normal. I wouldn't worry about that.

Everyone is different when it comes to the taper. I tended to drop with a fast taper but your daughter may not. When it comes to children, I think a short stint on Prednisone is better than a long one because of the side effects. All you can do is try it and see what happens.

My daughter is 10 and has recently been weaned from prednisone. While she was on it,she ate and ate and ate. She craved sweets... nice. She is normally a very petite girl, but that medication made her "puff up" (as she calls it) a LOT! She has been of prednisone for about a week and a half, but is still puffy. I'm wondering when that will go away.... poor thing!
Hoep all goes well for you and your daughter!!!!

Thank you Sandi. Ya, the doc said it's totally normal for the wbc to go up with prednisone.

Stacy, How high was the dose? We had a short 8 day burst of them before. It was 40mg for 5 dyas and 20mg for 3 days. She did start getting puffy but in a weeks time it was almost gone if I remember correctly. I think it's fluid retention only because you can see there is obvious weight gain but her cheeks change size during the day and I also noticed the less salt she eats the smaller they are. The only other thing she says is she feels wobbly sometimes. It should come off soon. If you think it's fluid watermelon is a natural diuretic and helps with fluid retention. I had Emma eat some and she went pee pee a bit more and woke up less puffy. How did her platelets respond to the prednisone? Emma is normally very petite too. I really think in that short of time it's probably retaining fluid causing the puffy and not weight gain so much. I ate like that when I was pregnant and didnt gain very much in a weeks time. But I've never taken prednisone so I have no idea. I'm just guessing )

Some of the puffiness (such as the cheeks) is caused by redistribution of fat.

Ya, that I can completely understand. Or even just age. After being pregnant my fat decided to hang out as a spare tire. haha My little girl's has to be fluid or something other since it literally in a days time her cheeks come and go. I wouldn't imagine fat dissolving and appearing multiple times in 24 hours. At least I hope not. And she is going pee more than normal so she's def having a fluid issue. Her blood sugar was only 129 so that's not the cause of urinating more. I'm a whack and educate myself on way too much I think. The docs laugh at me but enjoy the fact that I understand most of the time until I catch a boo boo on their end but their only human and we all make mistakes