Side effects with prednisone.

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Hello, im 27 yrs old and i got diagnosed with ITP in December 2015. Ive been on prednisone 40mg a day and its taking a toll on me. My platlet count started at 2, 000 , jumped up to 91, 000 after receiving IVIG treatments but now im back to 9,000. Im about to under go a splenectomy in a couple of weeks so i hope that can solve the problem. Ive always been very healthy and loved to stay fit but taking prednisone has me gain weight, my glucose, cholesterol and liver enzymes are going up and i get swollen from legs ,ankles and puffy cheeks. Has any of you exercised with this low count of platelets? I seriously just want to take 1 pill a day since my count never went up and its damaging other stuff. Is anyone going through the same thing?

0 likes, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi Samantha

    I was diagnosed in March 15 with severe vasculitis and was on initially 75mg Prednisone for four months then dropped it gradually and now I'm on 45mg. Due to the toxicity of this awful medication you cannot stay on Hugh doses for extended periods. Like your symptoms I have had the same and also memory loss and cognitive impairments.

    I also for my condition take methetrexate once a week which is a auto immune suppressant and CellCept. I have to look up ITP as don't know alot about your condition. How do you find the IVIG treatments what is involved. Thanks - V

    • Posted

      Hi Roni, thanks for the reply.

      IVIG treatments are antibodies infused through an IV for about 4 1/2 hours. It helps to sustain a healthy bone marrow since mine is really weak. Usually a lot of patients do well on that but in my case its my spleen attacking my platelets. Platelets are what clots your blood. In my case i hardly have any so i bruise easily and can even bleed internally. Im going to cut down on the prednisone to 20 mg rather than 40mg. Im afraid since its a steroid but its messing me up in other ways. You're right i do get memory loss too. Ive been on it for 2 months now. How are u doing now that you lowered your dosage??

  • Posted

    Hi Samantha

    Im 29 years old and i was diagnosed with ITP in May 2016. I was hospitalized for a week and also recieved IVIG treatments. I also started at a count of 2000. they also put me on prednisone, I started at 140mg a day. after the IVIG treatments they let me go when my count reached 100,000 but continued on the prednisone. i have seemed to have leveled out at 200,000. over the last 10 months they have been slowly reducing the prednisone. everytime they reduced it, that is when i feel intense side effects or withdrawls. it felt like i was going crazy and at first i didnt realize it was the side effects of the prednisone. I think i have experinced almost all the possible side effects. I put on 50lbs and had confusion excitement restlessness headache nausea acne trouble sleeping vision problems high blood pressure high cholesterol and at one point severe depression and some more that im forgetting at the moment.

    It has been a week now since i have been off the predinsone and the withdrawls really suck, especially the fatigue and muscle pains. i go for my blood test in a week to see how im reacting, if my platlets drop again i will have to have a spleenectomy.

    • Posted

      * correction i meant to put may 2015
    • Posted

      Hi Anthony,

      I'm so sorry you are going through that. Its tuff, I know. I just had my spleenectomy 2 weeks ago and still recovering. I responded right away and my platelet count jumped up to 300,000 which is great. Thank God i am cleared and can live my normal life. As a matter of fact today was my last dosage of prednisone 10 mg and I haven't had side effects. Those pills are not good. They never helped me increase my count or even the IVIG which I had 3 times a week. I hope you can over come this soon. It's stressful because you have to be extra careful with yourself. Hang in there!

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