Prednisone belongs to a class of medications called corticosteroids. It is used to treat a number of disorders. Most often it is prescribed to treat an allergic reaction, certain skin diseases, asthma attacks and severe arthritis. It may also be used to treat a corticosteroids deficiency, cancers, ulcerative colitis and blood disorders. This medication reduces inflammation, swelling and irritation.
The doctor you consulted may have prescribed this medication for conditions different from those listed in these drug information articles. If you have not consulted your doctor about it or you do not know why you are taking this medicine, please contact the doctor. Do not stop taking this medication without first consulting your doctor.
How Should I Use This Medicine?
The dose to be prescribed greatly depends on the condition that needs to be treated. The patient is also a predetermining factor for treatment prescription. Prednisone must be taken on a full stomach so that stomach upset is completely avoided. If the treatment was long term, do not stop without talking to the doctor. In case of stopping treatment, the dose will need to be decreased slowly as per the doctor’s instructions. Several factors may determine the dose of medication a person would need, such as other medical conditions, weight and other medications. If your doctor has recommended a dose different from the ones listed here, do not change the way the medication is taken without consulting your doctor.
It would prove invaluable wise to take this drug just as prescribed by the doctor. In the event where you miss a dose, you would want to take it as soon as possible and then continue with your regular schedule. In case it is nearly time for the next dosage, simply skip the missed one and resume your regular schedule. It is not advisable to take two doses at the moment so as to make up for a missed one. Do not throw medicines in wastewater (e.g. Not in the sink or in the toilet) or with household waste. Ask your pharmacist how to dispose of unused or expired medications.
Who Should Not Take It?
Prednisone should not be administered in the following cases:
• allergy to prednisone or any of its ingredients
• internal fungal infection
• Administration of a live virus vaccine (this applies only to people who take large doses of prednisone, which has an immunosuppressive effect)
What Are The Possible Side Effects Of This Medicine?
The side effects that have been mentioned on the list below do not necessarily happen to everyone taking this drug. In case you are worried about the side effects of the medication, you would want to discuss the risks and advantages closely associated with this drug with your doctor. This person should be able to help you deal with some side effects.
The following side effects may go away as your body adjusts to the medicine. Please consult your doctor if they persist or become bothersome.
More Frequent Effects
- Increased appetite: You eat too much and too regularly
- Indigestion: This could be defined as an imperfect or incomplete digestion, usually accompanied by symptoms like: pain, nausea and vomiting, acid regurgitation, heartburn, belching and accumulation of gas.
- Nervousness or restlessness: A condition of unrest and of irritability. You are very irritable and find it difficult to sit in one place
Less Common Or Rare Effects
- Changes in pigmentation: Your skin becomes lighter or darker than its normal shade.
- Dizziness or lightheadedness: Also known as Vertigo, this is a condition in which a person feels a loss of balance and dizziness, as if his or her surrounding is moving, rotating or oscillating. This can cause nausea and disability.
- Redness of the face or cheeks: A sudden rush of blood to the face causing instant redness and heat.
- Hiccups: This is an unexpected spasmodic contraction of your diaphragm, which causes a beginning of inspiration that is suddenly checked by a closure of the glottis, thus causing a characteristic sound.
- Increased sweating: You sweat profusely and uncontrollably
- Feeling of spin: You feel like you are spinning around.
Consult your doctor immediately if any of the side effects listed below occur:
Less Common Ones
- Decreased or blurred vision: a decrease in visual acuity, [which] may be the result of errors of refraction or ocular disease.
- Frequent urination: Going to the toilet one to many times with a few minutes.
- Increased thirst: You develop an insatiable need to always ingest fluids.
Rare Effects
- Confusion: incoherence of thought causing abnormal behavior.
- Depression: A mood characterized by dejection, psychomotor hypo-activity, thoughts of hopelessness and guilt.
- Excitement: An exciting or being excited; agitation
- Hallucinations: False sensory perception characterized by a lack of external stimulus.
- False sense of being important or ill-treatment
- Mood swings (sudden and wide): Oscillation from depression to elation, as seen in cyclothymic personality or, in a more extreme degree, in alternation between manic and depressive stages of manic-depressive psychosis.
- Rash or hives: Transient ender red or bluish firm papules or nodules that occur during non-eruptive febrile diseases.
Other side effects not listed above may also occur in some people. Consult your doctor if any symptom that worries you during treatment appears.
Other Precautions Or Warnings
Diabetes: Prednisone causes a rise in blood sugar (glucose in the blood), therefore, hyperglycemia can occur, glucose tolerance may be modified and diabetes mellitus may be aggravated. People with diabetes should carefully monitor their blood sugar and report any abnormalities to their doctor.
Electrolytes: Large doses of prednisone are not compatible with electrolytes. You may have to reduce salt and potassium supplements intake.
Fertility: In some men, corticosteroids such as prednisone may increase or decrease motility and number of sperm.
Fungal infections: This medication may worsen internal fungal infections and therefore you should not take it if you have such an infection.
Infection: This medication may mask some signs of infection, and new infections may occur during treatment with prednisone.
Osteoporosis: The prolonged use of prednisone may increase the risk of osteoporosis (brittle bones).
Inform all doctors you see that you are taking prednisone. The physician should closely monitor the growth and development of infants and children receiving long-term treatment with prednisone.
Read more about Prednisone side effects in details
- Prednisone Side Effects in Men
- Prednisone Side Effects in Women
- Prednisone Weight Gain
- Prednisone cause acne
- Prednisone and Allergy Problems
- Prednisone And Asthma
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- Prednisone for Children: What Parents Need to Know
- Prednisone Dosage: What You Need to Know for Safe and Effective Use
- Prednisone Safety: What You Need to Know Before Starting Treatment
- Prednisone for Seniors: Safety, Dosage, and Potential Side Effects
I have been on prednisone for nearly 10 years. Now,finally am on dose of 5mg. Could you please guide for desperately withdrawal of this medicine. I’m facing leg ache, could this be any symptoms of withdrawal? any advice or comment?
Sure, for withdrawal symptoms you can check out Prednisone Withdrawal & Its Symptoms, but its just for sake of information.There could be many reasons like Adrenal Insufficiency, take confirmation from you doctor about ACTH stimulation and get back to your doctor to wean out more side effects.
i am passing through agitation while regular use of Prednisone.Some time i become normal and some its hurt me alot. 🙁 do any one else have this issue?
Hyeeee, i got agitation with up and down use of this medicine. I put variation in dosage and got mood swings:(
A year ago arthritis pain has caught me and my prescriber recommended me just 2mg dose of prednisone as pain killer. Its being doing well for me. I am happy without side effects:)
Prednisone is anti-inflammatory drug with it new classification, it can reduce inflammation up to painkiller extent and it works without risk of GI.
My wife is on prednisone dosage since last 3 months. She does have dry skin and hair problem.
yes, prednisone at times affects hair and skin.
I had read somewhere that prednisone is a drug that is used very commonly for the treatment related to psoriasis. I am a patient of this disease and have been using this disease for the past one month or so. Though the drug has helped me to overcome the pain and irritation that is attached with this disease, I often have to face a lot of side effects, the most common one being bouts of diarrhea and feeling of nausea. Though it subsides after a few hours, I would have been happier if these side effects were not there. Nonetheless, it is a drug that has given me lot of relief from psoriasis.
I know some bit of information about Prednisone because my father who is a patient of psoriasis has been using this drug off and on. Though this drug works wonders on as a short term therapy I am not very sure about its impact on a long term basis. I have heard people telling me that corticosteroids like Prednisone should not be used long term. But my question is what about patients like my father who may have to live with psoriasis for his entire life. I have a question to ask. Is prednisone a safe drug for long term use? I have my own doubts about the safety of the drug or long term use.
Though many people have a lot of good things to say about Prednisone, my experience with this drug has not been good to say the least. I am a patient of chronic osteoarthritis and considering my age (I am around 72), I find it extremely difficult to move around and often during winter I am confined to my wheel chair. My doctor prescribed me Prednisone when the pain became intolerable in both my knee joints. However, little did I know that I was in for a rude shock within a few days of taking this drug. My blood pressure and blood sugar shot up quite rapidly and I almost reached a state of hyperglycemia and it was tough time both for my doctors and my family before my sugar levels were brought down to more manageable levels.
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General Low-down Here this product
To determine internal swelling is difficult enough, therefore, consequently, they influence the body for a long time, which threatens the normal fetus. Fluids are dangerous because they break blood circulation. The similar situation leads to the strengthening of negative tendencies feeding and the breath baby, created hypoxia.
Fighting such a pathology should be done with the help of correction feeding and special exercises so that water does not stay tissues. If the expectant mother is resting, then under the feet preferably put a cushion or pillow to improve the blood circulation of tired legs. Do not a long time to sit or stand, as this leads to stagnation in the body. It is recommended that the knee-elbow position several times a day in order to increase blood flow.