What Is It Like to Take Oral Prednisone?

Since you, according to your profile take no drugs, your MS episodes must have been very worrisome and frightening to seek medication to begin with. I'm happy to hear prednisone helped with minimal side-effects.

It's sobering to begin a drug with so many possibly harmful effects, as most do have; it's easy think they always happen to someone else. Only having a friend with MS, I can say it worked for them too. During that time, the amount of activity was astounding, it was amazing to see what something was causing right before you, it was amazing. The MS episodes, the new ones, subsided.

Such balances a chronic condition bring. Choosing between the help and harm of drugs. Imagine what people went through who voulnteered to do the humna trials of these drugs!

I have no experience with oral prednisone, so I really appreciate all the information you've provided here. Food for thought, should the need ever arise.

I always like to know of a real person's experience with any drug I have to take, perhaps because it seems the labels all are scary these days.  I know we are all different and reactions and effects will vary, but I do find these types of articles helpful.  Thanks for this information. 

I have not personally taken prednisone, but I am familiar with its effects from when I used to operate an adult foster care with my now ex-wife.  Not that prednisone had anything to do with the dissolution of the marriage.  One of the ladies had to take prednisone (I forget exactly why), and what I remember is that it made her very hungry and it caused her to be rather whacky.  She would insist, for instance, that there was a cow in the backyard trying to get into her room.  It seems like one of those things where she had trouble with it, and trouble without it.  I guess that's what getting old is all about.

I've taken prednisone a couple of times and think it was helpful. I experienced the insomnia but really didn't notice much of a difference otherwise. I've done the solumedrol drip once and it left me so shaky (tho i was already very shaky) and I wasn't sure if my slow recovery from that episode was due to the steriod or just normal circumstances.

Recently, my dr. told me I needed another round of solumedrol drip and I declined, partly because of the arm port they kept in me for several days. It was very uncomfortable and I didn't need any more pain added. My dr let me try oral solumedrol, which she warned would taste like battery acid and would be very harsh on my stomach. I agreed to do it and was very pleasantly surprised at how easy that went and the huge price difference too. The pharmacy was taken aback at the order but they helped me mix it (takes a syringe but really isn't difficult). I was careful about sipping it over a period of an hour to ease it into my system and eating a full meal to protect my stomach. I mixed it with cranberry juice and really didn't have a problem with the taste.

I think my copay on oral solumedrol was $20 vs. hundreds of dollars for the drip. While the drip is technically supposed to go directly into the bloodstream and be a superior way to go, I was quite happy to go this route and will be my steroid method of choice if/when I need to do this again.

I've found that for me the steroid benefit isn't immediate. I feel worse and then slowly get better over a couple of weeks.

 Hi Merely Me,

In October 07 I first tried the Oral prednisone taper and it didn't do much for my symptoms so shortly afterward as my symptoms got worse, I went in for the IV Solumedrol drip at 1000 mg/day (3 days).  That was harsh. During those 3 days my food tasted like crap (copper actually), I slept little but I sure did get A LOT of stuff around the house done.  I have never done the drug crack but at times I felt like I was tweaking out like someone on crack.  I'm sure I was pretty difficult to live with at that time.  However, the drip helped the symptoms release. 

I probably should have gone in for the drip during my last relapse in Feb 08 and think that on the last couple of days when I was deciding to go in, it started to let up.

Given the choice, if I were headed into another bad relapse, I'd have no problem getting back on that IV.

My sister has gone on the IV drip many times and now wonders if it's less effective because she's done it so often.  I don't know the answer but she says her doctor warned her not to overdo it.  Anybody have the experience that the IV drip started to become less effective after many uses?

Kathy

I was often given prednisone when I was younger for my asthma and that was never an issue. I gained weight and felt jittery but usually whatever symptom I had was so much better that I didn't mind the side effects from the prednisone.

But recently I was given solumedril drip and a prednisone taper for an MS flareup and solumedril was crazy! I couldn't eat anything without upsetting my stomach. I could barely sleep and I was wired with so much energy that I scared my husband. It gave me a bad case of acne and I never had bad skin, even in high school.

Thankfully the prednisone taper helped since I had no crash but a month after the drip I am still tired since I had no time to really rest since I have been working the entire time. I don't ever want to take solumedril again but it was interesting to have an extra 5 hours a day and a ton of energy to get a ton of stuff done.

I fell into an exacuberation the exactly two years to the date of my original dx. I had never tried the drug, but it has served me well. I started out with the 6,5,4,3,2,1 over 21 days. I am now on 40mg a day and still trying to figure out the pattern to avoid the hormonly change. So I take it late at night and wake at 5:30a ready to go just like before. Around 4pm, I am tired need to rest I also have to sometimes take a valium to get to sleep. But the pain leaves my body completely.

Thank you so much for sharing your story.

Jennifer Cardenas