Feeling horrible after been on the steroid prednisone

I know I’m a little late to the party on this one, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for sharing their stories. I’m on my 4th day since my last dose, and was starting to feel like there was no end to feeling like this, as all of the literature online says it should be out of my system within 24 hours, but reading all of your stories is helping me to see the end of the tunnel. I was prescribed a 5-day course of 50mg/day. On the first 3 days, my hands felt a little funny, almost swollen and clumsy, but I didn’t make the connection. Day 4, I forgot to take the pills, and by the end of the evening, I felt a TON of anxiety, but noticed that my fingers felt normal. Day 5, I took my 4th dose, and by the time I went to bed, my right arm and leg felt heavy and swollen and tingly, along with lesser symptoms on the other side, and my eyes were puffy. The next morning, I called the clinic that had prescribed me the prednisone, and asked what to do. He suggested going to the ER “if your symptoms are that bad.” I asked if I should continue taking the last dose of it that day, and he said yes. That didn’t exactly sit right with me so I called my PCP office and spoke to a nurse there and explained everything and said that he told me to finish the dose and immediately she said “NO do NOT do that!” And also said that she thought it was very strange that he prescribed me that high dose for bronchitis. The next two days, my arm and leg felt less heavy but still tingly and a bit sore, and I have had tons of anxiety and nausea. I found that when I’m active, the feeling goes away. Not sure if this is because it’s anxiety endured, or I also have a theory that I’m essentially “walking it off” like when a limb falls asleep. This is the only theory I can fathom making sense, as I am left-handed and hardly ever use my right arm, and that’s the only limb still affected. Day 3 off the pred, I finally noticed that my leg felt pretty much normal, but my arm is still “weird”. I decided to try melatonin to help me get to sleep. Today is day 4, and I have an appointment with my PCP. I’m feeling hopeful as the tingling is my arm seems to have subsided a bit, and is just mostly achy now. I’m hoping to get some reassurance that this is normal, and that there’s an end in sight, and possibly some anxiety meds from the PCP to all. Sorry for my endless vent, it’s helped to type it all out. Good luck to everyone and I wish everyone a speedy recovery from this hell!  

I really want to know how this medication work. From my own research, those who are on short burst are experiencing problems the most. Yes we will not suffer from osteoporosis or moon face but the psychological symptoms are unbearable and seem to have no way out! In my opinion, the reason why those who are on long term prednisone are less likely to suffer psychological effects is because they did taper!! they tapered until it even reach 1 mg or less... and I think no matter how short duration you are but if the dose is really high u might need to taper till you feel good again. It's about the feelings not the instruction. I have read someone's experience that they need to slowly taper to feel like themselves but they were on it for a months or years. So for a few days like this .. the taper schedule is rough and that's how everybody here ended up... I think..However if you mentioned about this to your doctor they will say its not possible and very unlikely that we will suffer from withdrawal.. yes this med was meant to be for long term use only i guess. We are like rare cases that no one seemed to put attention on.

Has anyone ever tried to go back and retaper again? I know it sounds stupid but if the side effects happen bc we quit cold turkey or tapered too fast then by going back and taper again would possibly help? I know how this drug makes us feel and it really scary just to put back on it 😕

Hi... omg I know this is an old post but I'm freaking out over here 😭. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm feeling the same way... Went to the Dr.s for bad cough and she put me on prednisone 60mg 2x a day for 10 days... day 5 came and I couldn't take it anymore due to all the bad side effects. She took me off of it cold turkey two days ago already but omg... I feel HORRIBLE. My body aches all over, my head feels like it's going to disconnect from my neck it hurts so bad. My heart keeps racing, my anxiety has gone through the roof, sleeping is torture (nightmares and feeling of dying). I was on this for just 5 days... FIVE. I'm so upset... my cough is gone but if I could go back in time I would have said no to this. I'm scared these symptoms are going to get worse and something bad is going to happen 😥. Has someone gone through this only after 5 days on it?

I wanted to reply to this thread cause I thought it was important to describe my experience with Prednisone. I know there's probably a lot of people out there, just like me looking for hope and answers. I was prescribed Prednisone for an allergic reaction to food, for hives and swelling. I started on a Monday morning with a tapered dose of 60mg Monday, 50mg Tuesday, 40 mg Wednesday, 30mg Thursday, 20mg Friday and 10mg Saturday, along with 25mg of benadryl every day as needed during the day and 50mg at night. By Wednesday, my hives were practically gone so I stopped taking benadryl and that's when I started feeling the side effects of the steroid. I started off with insomnia then a bit of nausea. by the weekend I had cold sweats, insomnia, dizziness, and after my last dose of 10mg of prednisone I had extreme fatigue. the fatigue continued through Tuesday of the week after and I was completely off of prednisone. I also had a couple of melt downs and mood swings. I can honestly say the symptoms stopped 5 days after I discontinued prednisone. I was back to somewhat normal. I also called my dr on Monday to explain my body aches and my symptoms of withdrawls and she stated that there was no way it could be withdrawal symptoms and that I was probably coming down with the flu. ridiculous! I had to ride it out until I felt better. and there's no other way around it. I also drank ginger, lime, and turmeric with cayenne pepper in the mornings the week after I finished my dose to help my immune system and I believe it helped. please hang in there be patient and pray for the best.

Hi. I have been off of prednisone for about 6 weeks this upcoming Sunday. I feel way more tired. I kind of get these points where i feel like life isn't real. Head kind of feels numb or head feels kind of weird. Sometimes worse than others. Please help. I see that your latest post was 14 months ago. I want to see if these are withdrawals and how long these symptoms lasted for you, and if you had these symptoms. I am only 16. They gave me 20 mg 2x a day for 5 days for a bad poison ivy. Now im thinking about it. I should have just rode out the poison ivy. I stopped taking it on the fourth day, because i started having really bad dizziness and almost passed out. About a week after taking it, i would wake up and feel super dizzy and out of it. Now it is just lingering around. Please help. Is this normal. Are you better now?