Prednisolone - side effects - bruising/thin skin

Like you I have PMR (since 2007) and GCA (since 2006) and I fully sympathise with you as regards the bruising and thinning of the skin caused by the steroids. As I have reduced the dose (now on 1mg), I am finding that although I am still bruising easily, they don't appear to be in such vivid colours! My skin does still scratch easily but I feel it will take some time after discontinuing the steroids for the skin to recover completely. As for a year or so after discontinuing steroids we are told to inform anyone treating us that we have been on steroids, I'm assuming that means it can take that long for the body to totally recover and that probably applies to our skin as well.

You have done really well to reach 7mgs after 9 months but although the rheumatologist has advised you to continue reducing by 1mg every 4 weeks, you should be aware that when you get to 5mgs it is very often difficult to reduce below that dose without increasing pain. The recommendation, therefore, is to then stay at each dose for 3 months to avoid causing a flare.

Very best wishes for continuing successful reductions and do come back and let us know how you are getting on......even more importantly when you do come off the steroids, please come back and let us share your good news.

MrsO

MrsO

I meant to add (it was late at night - grey cells shut down!) that I take Wheatgerm every day mainly as a boost for my skin as it contains Vit E and among other essential vitamins it also contains calcium which is an added bonus when on steroids! I haven't tried it but the Health shops sell wheatgerm oil and I have often wondered about giving it a try together with my moisturiser. Perhaps either of these suggestions may help with your skin problem.

MrsO

I have GCA only and it has taken me three and a half years to get down to 3mg per day.

You have done well to get down to 7mg from being diagnosed with GCA in January this year.

You ask specifically about bruising and thin skin.

Easily bruising and thin skin are also part and parcel of the aging process. So when you are thinking it is all down to steroids - its not so - it is exacerbated and its a nuisance. And if, like me, you easily bruised all your life, it can seem to be a major problem.

Talk to your Pharmacist, tell them about every medication you are taking, including non-prescription and then ask them if Arnica tablets and/ or cream are compatible and try Arnica for the bruising.

Just remember one thing, steroids and all that comes with them, are keeping your sight.

:bubbly:

During this afternoon's online reading session :lol: I noted the following piece of information in a chapter in a medical textbook dealing with the treatment of GCA and the use of the so-called \"steroid sparing\" drugs:

30% of patients who got off steroids in less than 2 years had relapses of GCA and/or PMR. An even higher relapse rate was noted for patients who were on steroids for less than a year.

There have been some trials of the idea of using very high doses of intravenous steroids at the start of treatment of GCA for a short period until the inflammation has been totally controlled (on the basis of the ESR values) and then changing over to longer term lower oral doses. This has seemed to offer a promising way of dealing with a nasty disease which threatens your sight as it was associated with good recovery rates and few relapses.

These points do suggest to me that it is very important that the inflammation in the blood vessels MUST be got under control at the outset for a successful longer-term result - and that it is a mistake to be too hasty in trying to get off the steroids.

Purplecat - I do hope you aren't THAT purple :lol: - despite your concern about the bruising I just wanted to agree with MrsK here. My mother-in-law never took anything much (she would have saved the pharmaceutics world a fortune, one tablet of anything and she showed most of the adverse effects!) but in later years she barely had to touch something and she had a bruises all over and had very fragile skin. GCA is one of a group of illnesses termed as vasculitis which means inflamed blood vessels. If the little blood vessels are damaged as a result they are likely to be more fragile and bleed more easily.

We do tend to blame everything on those awful steroids - but for some of the things I notice, I personally couldn't tell you what was from the PMR and what was from the steroids as they overlap so much! In my case, most of the things that appear that might be from steroids according to the list of side-effects actually disappear if I up the steroid dose a bit so they are probably PMR!

EileenH

I agree that the bruising is probably as much due to skin ageing as it is to the prednisolone as it occurs predominantly on arms and shins - those parts of the body that get the most sun exposure over the years (so sun damage maybe - and I have to confess to being a real sun worshipper when younger). Also - I did bruise fairly easily on those parts of the body before I was taking steroids - though since the steroids it seems ten times worse.

Anyway - thanks again for your thoughts on the matter.

Best wishes - Purple cat.

PS - no - I'm not that purple - I belong to a choir called Purple Cats!

(reversing the effects from prednisone).

2 things to take:

horsetail extract pills (1 pill 3x a day) -

and collagen pills (1 pill 2-3x a day).

take both of these for atleast 9 - 12 months and your skin should be back to normal (yes it takes time to rebuild, but it does work.). and most doctors will tell you there's no cure - don't believe them.

as a side note, be sure to drink twice as much water when taking horsetail extract . it seems to dehydrate a little and cause a little constipation. but drinking more water alleviates this.

That of course also applies with new prescription drugs - and the pharmacist is the person to check with. They spend 7 years just on pharmacology, most doctors may have done 7 months part time. I ended up in hospital when a GP gave me an antibiotic that doesn't go with pred and it took a long time to recover - I was on crutches for 9 months until the achilles tendon recovered. I do my own searches now - always!

Eileen