Prednisolone withdrawal - skin rash

Interesting! I noticed some small mosquito bite type red spots when weaning from about 10mg to 5mg. This was after I had first weaned from 50mg (Prednisolone prescribed for my PMR diagnosis) down to 10mg over a 6 month period of time.

I first had the red extremely itchy spots on my middle lower back. They then moved to my lower legs and lower arms. The lower back improved but the spots and resulting itch then moved up my legs to my thighs and arms up to my shoulders. This first occurred when I weaned from Pred. on the first attempt dropping quickly in 5mg doses from 50mg back to nothing within 6 months.

It has happened again even though I am reducing far more slowly in 1mg doses now over the same period of time.

I am currently on 4mg switching to 3mg slowly. The itch although still there has eased off quite a lot except that the red spots are still visible. When the itching hit me during my first attempt at weaning off the Pred., I suspected the itching as withdrawal symptoms then, but am reasonably satisfied that after suffering similar itching after my second attempt at withdrawal that the red spots with associated itching are caused by the withdrawal of Prednisolone

Any other thoughts?

Hi,  I have been taking high doses of prednisone and then lowered to a steady 10mg for over a year for asthma after a shoulder surgery. 

This is the second time I have experienced this rash. My legs look like diabetic legs (i do not have diabeties) and the itch and heat are unbearable. It has been a month and a half since I am off of it. It took a few weeks to get this bad and nothing I am doing is changing it. It is starting to spread to my hands upper legs at the underware band and my head and face have been itchy. 

I see my gp next week and am hoping she can help. I never thought to ask the allergist who has been treating the asthma.   Any thoughts are VERY much appreciated. 

Hi. I, too was on prednisone for just a month. I had a very high dose of 60 mg, tapered back slowly to start and then more quickly. Two days after ending I broke out in rash and now on day four, it’s worse. Arms, legs (inner thighs really bad) torso and now my face.  Does anyone have an idea as to how long this should last?  Is it a permanent issue that I’ll have to deal with or just temporary?

My doctor who treated me with the steroid said he’s never heard of this and seems to doubt it’s the steroids. He advised me to see dermatologist.  Thanks

Hello,

I strongly recommend that prednisone be avoided completely.

My neurologist insisted I take it for my approx 2 x yr allergy asthma since inhalers other than Advair cause my heart to race and my ins doesn't cover

Advair ($400 out of pocket) .

He prescribed it to "take 1 with flare up", then @ my follow-up a month later he asked if I was taking it daily and I told him that I didn't need it daily, he got upset and told me I had to take it every day.

When I asked him why he said it would prevent my ever having allergies again, that" it is perfectly safe, no side effects, that (he himself) and hundreds of other patients take it everyday and no tolerance could be built up".

My gut feeling was to not take it but he's an old experienced doctor so I ignored my inner knowing and my health, my life will never be the same again.

*Doctors get paid from the pharmaceutical companies for every prescription... And will not take accountability for misdiagnosis or damage to their patients health caused by their treatment. Ever.

Otherwise they face liability.

I've suffered with nearly every side-effect and I'm lucky to be alive. I had to call him/see him or other specialists @ least twice a month for nearly a year.

When the skin on my thumbs and fingers and fingernails kept coming off and my hands were swollen to twice their normal size I went to my primary care physician and he thought prednisone would make it better so he doubled the dose for one week. When I went to follow up with my neurologist and was explaining all of the side effects I was experiencing and showed him my hands and informed him that my primary care doctor increase the prednisone amount, my neurologist got very uptight and insisted that my PCP didn't know anything & that amount of Prednisone was too much and not safe so he told me to only take it for one week. After one more week I quit taking the prednisone and I noticed that my hands were healing. My neurologist called to see how I was doing and how much I was taking and I told him that I had quit taking it for a week he got very upset told me I couldn't do that but I had to keep taking it or my hands would get bad again so he put me on a double dose taking it 3 times a day! Immediately my hand swelled up and my skin and nails started coming off again. I spoke with my dermatologist he was shocked and horrified that I was on such a high dose of prednisone for so long and that it was definitely the cause of my issues but that my neurologist had to take me off of it since he had prescribed it. But my neurologist insisted that a dermatologist isn't a real doctor and didn't know what he was talking about and kept me on the high dose. After a few weeks I developed scurvy I had sudden very severe allergic reactions to Foods I've always eaten, I ended up in the emergency room twice became urinary incontinent. I've lost a significant amount of vision, I had severe insomnia sleeping only once every fourth day with high doses of sleeping pills and when I did sleep I had parasomnia which became very dangerous because I was using knives all night during my sleep. I became narcoleptic during the day etc etc. So I spoke with my neurologist last April and told him I wasn't taking prednisone anymore and he said okay.

A week later I had to go to the E.R. because I was so swollen my entire body I couldn't walk was having trouble breathing my heart was racing I was going into cardiac failure my doctor asked me how much prednisone I was taking and I reminded him that he had said I could quit, he turned pale and said that it could kill me to stop suddenly and that I better not tell the emergency room that he gave me permission to stop taking it or that he had verbally increased my dose( he'd even written himself prescriptions to bring prednisone to my house! But he would peel off the label.)

While I was in the emergency room talking with the doctors I looked up and saw him standing right outside of the room I was in watching me and pulled the doctors aside saying he was very concerned about me because I have epilepsy and I'm alone and I have a tendency to overdose! Out of fear due to their reaction and seeing him right there I told them that I had just stopped taking the medication. I was terrified!

I told him I felt I needed a new doctor and immediately he told me that I was driving illegally and I asked him why and he just looked at me with a warning look basically letting me know that he had the right to take my driving privilege away because I have epilepsy even though I am seizure free.

He wrote down in detail the dosage for me to taper off of prednisone and then called me after 2 weeks and asked me how much I was taking and I told him I was done then he increased the dose again and had me taper for two more weeks. Ever since then (June 2017)I have had terrible rash/eczema which started on my arms then my upper back and my hips then my lower back and anywhere clothing would rub against my skin.

I find it ironic that prednisone (steroids) cause this rash then they prescribe steroid cream to treat the rash however; because of the prednisone my body is steroid resistant and going through steroid withdrawal which causes the rash and the cream only worsens it!

I had to take a lot of Benadryl just to get some sleep about a month ago I was doing everything I could to figure out any type of relief because nothing the doctors recommended was working.

Then I remembered that 30 years ago when I started having psoriasis the treatment for psoriasis was to have sunlight or go to a tanning bed but too much sun can make it worse. I figured

It was worth a shot. I have avoided the Sun for 20 years but I was desperate so I went tanning once a week for 4 weeks and at first the stinging was worse so at home I just wore long sleeves and took Benadryl and after four visits my skin is still lumpy and rough and mildly itchy but the redness and the sores and the severe itch and burning are gone! The only place I still have a rash is my forearms :-)

The one thing that worked best once I started tanning was aloe vera gel. It's the only thing that's provided any relief. When I got tennis elbow a few months back because- I get every injury very easily now because my body is so weak and from the prednisone that I finally had a cortisone steroid shot in my elbow which caused the rash to worsen.

One thing I realized and get to remember is that these prescription drugs are made of toxic chemicals they are not often invented to improve health but to increase scientific discovery and wealth for the scientific and medical community.

Their focus is to keep people on prescription medications so it worked perfectly for them to give steroids to make us need steroids to treat the side effects of the steroids!

*side note:

My neurologist continually told me that all of my side effects were not possible side effects of prednisone even though they are listed as side effect. He kept telling me it was just me that no one else has these that everything else including this rash is just me. I'm so grateful to know that it isn't just me because I knew all along,

Prednisone has its health benefits for transplant patients and some others, but I feel it is over prescribed.