Feeling horrible after been on the steroid prednisone

I was put on prednisone 60mg a day for 6 days no taper for a sinusinfection. was completely healthy . never had any problems. that was 5 months ago I still have anxiety. witch I never had before. leg cramps here and there . random tingling. I have been to so many e.r because thought I was having hart attack/ or something. its been the worst 5 months ever. after 3 months of taking random meds to help .I stopped taking everything. and as time goes on the side effects get less severe. and not as often but they are there . I have not felt my self .after the first prednisone pill I took . its horrible.!! dont wish this on anyone!

i was given 20mg 3xs a day for 7 days stop after 3 days couldnt take it. everything got worst after i stop major w/d went down after 3 or 4 days after i stop. but even now im dealing with w/d like my tonsils still swollen witch a doctor says comes from prednisone

To daniel96503, how long has it been since your last dose and what is the full list of side effects you are dealing with?

maybe 2 weeks or more an what i can say i felt like i got hit by a truck. i had plenty of mood swings heart did a lot of racing. tonsils was swollen muscle weakness just wasnt good smh.

It's difficult because the symptoms of withdrawal can be similar to the symptoms of having too much cortisol from the drug. In either case, the symptoms will definitely improve as time goes by. Two weeks is nothing, and if you don't feel like you're literally fighting for your life with insane side effects every minute of every day like I did at the 2-week mark, then you can be sure that you'll be feeling much better in one or two months.

YES. Thats exactly how I have been feeling, like too much cortisol. It has been three months for me and I am STILL having issues with heart rate, anxiety, sleep, and feeling "high" when I am completely sober. I pray that this will get better with time. I feel about 25% better than I did three months ago but have a long way to getting back to who I was. My prayers to all of you in the same shoes!

Me too Lauren. I feel the same way. I pray we all get back to normal. I hate pred but I know that there's someone out there that loves it. So I don't like it.

About feeling high, one of the side effects of too much cortisol is feeling extreme euphoria for no reason. I had this side effect for the first year or so.

Not to be a pessimist but this drug can take a ridiculously long time to leave your body. I had an injection 17 months ago and I had an extreme reaction, literally felt like I was fighting for my life. Now 17 months later it's much weaker, maybe just 10% as strong as it was in the first month but I still have symptoms. It gets a bit better each month but it's so slow. In my case it even affects my appearance, like swollen face and fingers which are typical side effects. I just don't look myself. The idea of just waking up in a healthy body with no side effects like I used to feels like a dream to me, and I think it could take another one or two years to get to that point.

i'm so sorry you went through that. i'm assuming my recovery will take a long time as well. I now get random headaches in weird places and like I said earlier, the weird "high/disconnected" feeling that is there 50% of the time. Do you think it's due to cortisol? All of this has without a doubt been the most awful thing i've been through. I just pray it goes away.

Yes the excess cortisol has strong mental effects and can make you feel drugged up. Do you have other physical side effects besides fast heart rate? (like muscle weakness, slow wound healing, bloating etc.)

I have headaches in places my head never hurt before. I also suffer from bloating and constipation now. I get weird muscle jerks in my limbs at all times for no reason. It also feels like my chest is tight and it's hard to breathe! I am so miserable every day. I can't even believe I used to feel good...so scared!!!

Ok it appears you are having systemic effects as well, not just mental. I thought I was the only person getting these phsyical effects long after the last dose. The doctors can deny it all they want but these are all side effects of too much cortisol. I think I started seeing faster improvement once I started eating lots of fiber and drinking lots of water. Dehydration was another side effect for me and I also got headaches when I wasn't drinking enough, felt like hangover headaches.

yes I have been to so many doctors. had cat scan blood work probably 15 times they all say no way it's still from prednisone. but I was fine other then a sinus infection. witch I will take. back any day over this . like this morning woke up my legs felt like I had ran miles last night . anyone else still get the random dizzy

I would recommend to start eating oats for fiber and lots of water to help flush it out. I also recommend to make sure you're getting micronutrients. I went a bit overboard with natural supplements to the point I'm taking around 40 pills per day (including a multivitamin, vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, vitamin K2, and potassium), but I think it helped my body push through the worst and I take everything within the recommended daily allowance. I knew the drug was really getting weak in my system once I started feeling some of my old depressive symptoms coming back, because before that the steroid made me feel amped up and euphoric all the time for no reason.

I will try it . i just cant wait to be back to normal. I often wonder is this the new normal. some days are good some are bad . and tired of doctors saying that it couldn't have been the prednisone. but they always have a friend doctor to refer u to for more test . and I have to pay out of pocket for all of it makes it hard .me and my wife have blew threw our hole savings and most of retirement. in doctor Bill's. after being on prednisone. and not being able to work full time .after being off this crazy drug for 5 months .is just unreal

Be prepared for it to take a long time. This drug has stolen so much of my life that this is now the new normal for me. Now I'm getting side effects again as I'm typing this (sudden swelling of face, tightness in chest, difficulty breathing, thin skin, adrenaline). I honestly think it might take years for this to be over.

I get pessimistic when the side effects start, but it really is much weaker than a year ago. I'm looking forward to see how much weaker it gets over the next year, even though progress is incremental.

yes it is truly a roller coaster. and has taken so much of my life away from me and my kids .to the point I'm scared to go to games dont want to walk all the way to field and then my legs be to weak to walk out. the heavy chest thing sucks . and the systems are so random. and doctors just think I'm crazy .to the point I have gave up on them. and deal with my self this form has helped me more then any doctor. even when my anxiety starts up I read this form .and it helps so much I probably know everyone story by hart . my wife understand alot more because I share this form with her .

are u getting any better?? please let us know

Look into Activated Charcoal. It's used in hospitals to remove poison and drug overdose from the body, and it works on prednisone and other corticosteroids. I've only been taking it since yesterday and already feel a noticeable difference.

Who makes this Activated charcoal and how can i get it to try?

It's a supplement, been used for thousands of years and used in hospitals aginst drug overdose and poisoning. It binds to substances and removes them from the body and should be taken on an empty stomach with lots of water. I got mine on Amazon.

Mine is made by Nu U Nutrition.

Posting my new regimen here as well

Warning: taking activated charcoal on an empty stomach caused diarrhea for me. This is my new regimen:

I've been experimenting with different doses and frequency, because the cortisone is constantly circulating from the blood to the liver to the small intestine a little bit at a time. I'm taking activated charcoal in capsule form. You're also going to need oats or oat-based high fiber cereal. It's high in soluble fiber, prevents diarrhea and constipation from the charcoal, and it acts as a sponge to soak up both the charcoal and cortisone so the drug can be neutralized.

This is the regimen:

-When you wake up take 1g of activated charcoal. Immediately eat a very small bowl of oats or oat cereal. Do this every hour for the next 6-8 hours.

-You need to drink a lot of water to prevent dehydration and constipation from the charcoal.

-Take a multivitamin and potassium at night because the charcoal also depletes vitamins and potassium from the body. If you take any medication take it at night also as far away from the charcoal because it also interferes with it.

-Start with a smaller dose to see how much your body can handle. I may increase the dose of charcoal in the future.

-I also experimented taking the charcoal on an empty stomach every hour. It worked quite well except this causes diarrhea.

-Last point, either use water or a very small amount of milk with the oats. I read that milk can reduce the effectiveness of the activated charcoal.

Don't expect an overnight cure. The cortisone is spread throughout all the fat tissue and blood in your body. It takes time for it all to circulate through the liver and small intestine where the charcoal can bind to it before it's reabsorbed into the blood.

Also, please report back on how it worked for you. I'm seeing huge improvement.