Weight Gain, emotional stressed

I've gained over 60lbs from all the Pred. I can't eat any healthier and or less. I don't know what to do??? I work 5 days a week and when not working I sleep since I am always tired. I just want to cry, I don't look in the mirror anymore. I know the stress isn't good for me but I'm at the end of my rope with the weight.

CBC today and will find out tomorrow counts, last week 67k. Still on 30mg of Pred and going on 3 months of it. Been asking to taper down for weeks now...

I feel that people look at me and say what a fat a$$. I even feel my husband is looking at me different and I can't even talk to him about it because I'll start crying...

Hi Amber,
I am maybe not qualified to respond as I have never taken steroids, and when my son did briefly, it actually lessened his appetite. However, I am overweight so I know how that feels. I just wanted to say two things
a) As I am sure that your husband and friends love you dearly, I am equally sure that when they look at you, they see the person you are, not the shape that you are - especially as they know it is steroid related
b) I can't understand why Drs never look at the WHOLE person when treating illnesses. Both illnesses and treatments can make people depressed and that depression often affects quality of life much more than the actual condition does in the first instance. Argh! It annoys me so much! Can you talk to the Dr about how the steroid side effects are making you feel and reach some kind of compromise that involves a slow taper?

Really feel for you, but keep your chin up

Hi amber

Sorry to hear you're not having a great time at the mo. I agree with Alison that you need to talk to your dr about this. If the pred is impacting on your life so much it needs looking at! (I also agree that your friends and family DO love you & are probably worried about your emotions more than anything else!).

Why are you tired all the time? I only ask because at 30mg pred I was still "buzzing". Do you think low counts affect how tired you are? My concern is that a pred taper might make you feel even more tired - and that may not be great emotionally either . When I was tapering I started running to counter the effect of feeling tired. It was really hard to get motivated to go out but some new songs on my iPod usually did the trick. I didn't run far, or for long - actually I probably walked more than I ran. Doesn't matter though - the point is that some exercise counteracted the effects of tapering & gave me more energy. It also lifted my mood sometimes.

Do you think there's any exercise you could do that might help? A bonus might be that you may lose some weight - but that isn't the main reason I suggest it at all.

& talk to your hubby. I get that you feel you will be overwhelmed talking to him - but he's your main support & I'm sure he wants to do all he can to help. Get him in your corner & then talk to your dr. Good luck!!

Hi Amber,

I think everybody can understand how you feel. My hemo once said that his average patient gains 2 lbs per week under predni.
I'm sure your husband is far more concerned about your wellbeing than about your weight.

Have you tried walking? I usually walk three times a day for 30-45 minutes when on predni. (Or try to)
For me this helps with the weight gain and with the stress.
You also need to make yoursefl aware that a lot of the weight gain is not fat, but water. Water will go away more easy than fat once you are off the predni.

You are going thru tough times! It is normal to feel bad some times, but as Alison wrote keep your chin up.

And keep loving yourself!!!!

Joerg

Hi Amber

I have been on prednisolone twice now, both times put on a few Kg/lb but the worst bit was my face it balooooons. It is huge. I know how you feel. Some days I feel like my face is about to burst, luckily I have not put on too much weight on other parts of my body mainly my face.
However they way I look at it, I would rather have a fatter face and more platelets at this stage than anything else, my friends and family who know me know this is not my usual way I look and its not going to be forever. I try most of the time eat very healthily and try not to snack and eat more, it is hard on steroids as I am constantly hungry and eating.... I drink loads of water and I think that may help aswell, unfortunately nothing helps with the big face. I get lots of comments from people to say your face has gotten bigger and bigger, but I just try and shrug them off, its not forever and its helping me for now so this is how its going to be.
Your husband I am sure cares about our health and platelets not your weight......
This will pass..... be kind to yourself! I sometimes treat myself to like manicures and pedicures more often then I did before.....

Well how you are feeling is something you really need to talk to your husband about - so what if you start to cry. This is something you both are going through.

I gained that much too, and living in a foreign country - when we went there to get an apartment & meet who my husband would be working with [Americans and Japanese] I was my normal thin self, when we moved there a few weeks later a different shaped me showed up.

I know exactly how you feel. The prednisone is doing a number on your emotions as well so really you need to talk to/with your husband, please. My husband was most caring and understanding and God love him I put him and the boys though some very hard times thanks to prednisone.

Why won't your doctor let you try a taper - a slow one, I had 1mg tablets I'd cut in 1/2 and taper down .5 at a time.

A story to make you laugh or smile:
Moving to Japan, passport photos taken and passport received - ITP diagnosed and put on prednisone - Pillsbury Dough Boy Effect taking hold - we get on that plane and fly to our new home. Once there we must get things in order and one is getting our driver's license - give the man my passport and papers - well I look nothing like my passport papers since weight gain in that very short time and the Pillsbury Dough Boy Effect - man keeps looking at me then at my passport then at me etc, he calls another man over and they do the same thing look at me look at my passport etc. Embarrassing puts it mildly. But now I can laugh at it - I really did not look like my passport photo, but did look like the photo in my Japanese ID since it was taken after we got there - that poor man had to be so confused - know he talked about the fat gaijin for days afterward.

You are you no matter what - remember that.