1. Community
  2. Bones, joints and muscles
  3. Polymyalgia Rheumatica and GCA

Prednisone allergy

Posted , 10 users are following.

LayneTX
LayneTX

well, well, well, saw my Rheumy last week. Today I opened the online portal to see the "summary of visit".

I looked at list of my meds and saw a list of allergies.

She told me to eat coconut, but I told her I think I'm allergic, I've gotten rashes and often itch after I've consumed it or even rubbed on skin. So I saw coconut was added to the list.

Then I saw Prednisone was on the list and it said, upset GI.

She never admitted this to me, I've told her of chest tightness since the beginning. 

I'm betting since they don't know what else to do, the doctors did nothing but let me suffer with stomach issues. 

I say this on forum for extra knowledge for others since I didn't know what was going on in the beginning. 

I did wonder when I've read about allergic reactions to Prednisone could be chest tightness.  Lovely.

 

1 like, 11 replies

11 Replies

  • elizabeth53956
    elizabeth53956 LayneTX

    Posted

    I can't even began to tell the number of mistakes that were made before I got a definitive diagnosis. It took over 5 months, and one mistake was made after another. I'm still not sure if I'll stay with my doc or try to find another practice. That said we REALLY have to be our own advocates. I always am careful, but I got so discouraged with one mistake after another. Referrals were made to other doctors and I got bad advice from at least 3 doctors that was out and out wrong. I had a very painful MRI that I had to interrupt from my ortho doc because it was so painful.I came out and asked him if it could be rheumatoid, and he said absolutely not. He said it was a rotator cuff tear, and he's one of the most respected docs in a highly egarded practice. I went to a doc because of the swelling in my temples before I had a diagnosis, and without him lookinging at me or examining me he said there is nothing wrong with you. My doc referred me to this man. We have to question everything. Not in a distrustful way, but just in an information gathering pursuit.
  • sandra28555
    sandra28555 LayneTX

    Posted

    My problem is not questioning enough! I have gone through years of this and I do not see any progress being made. I just started a trial period of prednisone as all of my markers were elevated. Just maybe we can make some progress now but I don't dare get my hopes up. 
  • Flutterbie57
    Flutterbie57 LayneTX

    Posted

    Too tired to read further now, but have incredible chest tightness and am suffering with bad stomach issues. A timely post for me. Thankyou. I will revisit it tomorrow.
  • EileenH
    EileenH LayneTX

    Posted

    When you talk about "chest tightness" what do you mean?

    Have you all had good cardiac checks? When this current flare produced extreme breathlessness after walking up a very gentle slope - the day before I'd gone the full circular walk round the village - when I finally saw the local medical consultant about 2 weeks later the the first thing he checked was BNP, a test for cardiac function and a chest x-ray.

    Any doctor who is too lazy to examine the patient would lose my custom straight away. My GP got it wrong for 5 years but he did examine me! I later discovered that if I'd seen a different GP in the practice it would have been recognised straight away.

    • LayneTX
      LayneTX EileenH

      Posted

      Probably a week or two after started Pred my chest felt like someone sitting on it and painful from middle of chest outward toward sides of lungs for 3-4 hours starting about noon. I researched symptoms of Pred and did see chest tightness as one on a site.  So I assumed it was normal though as I said I told the doctors, both primary and Rheumy.

      6 moths prior to PMR onset, I did have my first ever episode on a very stressful day and I was driving when I felt I couldn't breath, got dizzy, ended up at doctors office and she said my heart was contracting early or something like that? I did wear heart monitor for a week and they found nothing. Never experienced that again, 

       

    • EileenH
      EileenH LayneTX

      Posted

      That's the trouble with sporadic things - they never turn up when you are being monitored! Might be worth having another now though - except it will probably banish the symptoms again wink
  • lorna77990
    lorna77990 LayneTX

    Posted

    Good morning

    My GP and the pharmasyst warned me about GI issues. I take my med in the morning to try and off set an upset stomach. It has worked for me.

    Cheers from NC

    Canada

    • LayneTX
      LayneTX lorna77990

      Posted

      I always took my Pred with big breakfast! 3 eggs, sometimes bacon or ham, lots of spinach, sometimes bell peppers but I'm off those now (experimenting by avoiding nightshade veggies). 

      I think just some people it doesn't effect which is great. 

      I never gained weight, did have round face and hump back.

      so glad Lorna it's not affecting you, yea!

  • FlipDover_Aust
    FlipDover_Aust LayneTX

    Posted

    Great. Just great. you needed this like a hole in the head.

    What are you going to do?

    • LayneTX
      LayneTX FlipDover_Aust

      Posted

      hi Flip, well, nothing I can do but continue to reduce.  I just started taper to 5 mg. feeling withdrawal this morning, but atleast I know what that is. wink

      She has me on two DMARDS thinking it helps with reduction, but I want to doubt it, but heck, I might as well think positively and say it does help. Ha, ha. 

      But hope my experience will somehow get out there that there are potential allergies to it and doctors should notice. I hope like heck my stomach heals and not get worse!  I really try to avoid foods that can be harsh on tummy. 

    • EileenH
      EileenH LayneTX

      Posted

      You can have steroids as intramuscular injections every few weeks - a lady from the south of England on this forum can only have pred as injections because of severe gastric issues. She recently probably developed GCA and they have just upped the frequency of the injections. It works well for her.

      In the most recent (2015) international recommendations for the management of PMR, Recommendation 5 on p2575 recommends considering the use of injections as an alternative to oral steroids. 

      Usual place: https://patient.info/forums/discuss/pmr-gca-website-addresses-and-resources-35316

      after the Bristol paper.

      These are Recommendatins drawn up by a combined committee on behalf of the European and American Colleges of Rheumatology so it doesn't matter where you are, they can't say "oh they do it differently there". As if PMR or GCA are different just because you live in the US rather than the UK. which one rheumy did say.

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.