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Posted 10/15/2008 11:40 AM (GMT -5)
first of all i hope all is well,sorry i havent been on here to check on anyone in two years. it's been a rough two years. my question is about prednisone back in july my grandma passed away and i started to flare pretty good. i was put on prednisone 20mg so many a day and weaned off. but it made my heart beat real funny,like flip flops and going to beat out of my chest. i'm flaring again and i'm getting ready to pick up my perscription of pred today. i'm scared to take it again cause of the heart beating thing has this done this to anyone else?
Posted 10/15/2008 4:48 PM (GMT -5)
Yup it sure has, and even when i am tappering off it at times too. Anxiety comes along with it too. I have managed through it many a time with no adverse effects and it goes away. When it happens try to relax, dont get all worked up about it, i know its hard not to, but it just seems to add to it if you do.

Posted 10/15/2008 5:07 PM (GMT -5)

No - I never had that happen.  I had some slight swelling - mostly face, neck and legs...  I also noticed some night sweats while on Pred but I had those some with the flare too...to me pred was completely worth the side effects because NOTHING else worked at all for this last flare.  Hope all goes well for you!!!

Posted 10/15/2008 5:18 PM (GMT -5)
mad mad mad

yes this definitely happens. Its a steroid so you probably going to feel like your on speed, even after you've tapered off. Fortunately its not anything serious, so just try to take it easy when that happens. I have a tendancy to gain a ton of weight because I turn into a bottomless pit for food because of pred. I just try to enjoy it and think about how awesome I'm going to feel once I've tapered off.

Keep looking forward.
Posted 10/15/2008 6:13 PM (GMT -5)
yup, ive gotten panic attacks, rapid heart beat, rapid thoughts, depression, anxiety, feeling like i was on another planet, etc. Ive been up to i believe 80 mg of pred(in hospital, was too out of it to even know what was what), and then 60 mg, and then 50, etc. what a nightmare! I am currently at 20 and its much better, but about an hour after i take the pill, i feel rotten and my heart will pound a bit and my anxiety will ramp up. 3 more days and then 15.. whoo hoo!

the anxiety/rapid heart beat/shaking/sweating, etc will not kill you. it is only the drug that is causing it so don't be afraid of it :).
Posted 10/17/2008 9:35 AM (GMT -5)
tks everyone for replying, i go to the dr. today so i guess i'm going to start the pred.

Posted 10/17/2008 2:59 PM (GMT -5)
Prednisone almost acts like a stimulant, so i'm wary of how much caffine I take in. I didn't notice it too much when I was on 20mg/day.
Posted 10/17/2008 3:56 PM (GMT -5)
I have the same problem with the prednisone. I'm currently on 30 mg a day. My doctor prescribed Librium to me to help with the panic/fast heart beating/ yucky-ness of it all. I take a Librium an hour before I take the prednisone and it seems to help. My main problem was that my hands would shake an awful lot not to mention feeling totally insane. So maybe you could suggest that your doctor give you a low dose of Librium or Valium to help? And really, everyone's right, the prednisone is worth the side effects. Withough prednisone and Remicade I don't think I'd ever have come out of my last flare and I think I'm finally getting there now..... hang in there.


Katie
Age 35
Prednisone 30 mg (tapering)
Remicade
Multivitamin
Oscal
2 Lialda
Posted 10/17/2008 4:20 PM (GMT -5)
Wow...Now I'm worried about starting my script of prednisone.
Posted 10/20/2008 10:01 AM (GMT -5)
well my heart is beating fast this time around on pred. but night sweats and feeling like a flushed face is bothering me.
Posted 10/20/2008 2:48 PM (GMT -5)
I had never taken a steroid of any kind before. The first couple of days were okay, though I noticed I felt constantly hungry or my stomach hurt slightly, it was actually hard to tell which it was. So, I was eating a lot of crackers and I thought that would help. After the five days my skin began to break out all over the place, which was not usually a problem for me. The breakout was so bad, I went to see a dermatologist who put me on a month of tetracycline, which cleared up the skin. Overall, the prednisone made me feel lousy! I only take it when the flare is very bad.
Posted 10/20/2008 3:31 PM (GMT -5)
Yes, prednisone can have a very significant effect on heart activity. Prednisone tends to lower the body's potassium levels. Too little potassium causes excessive electrical excitability in the heart muscle, and hence a much higher susceptibility to arrythmias such as atrial fibrillation. This might be what you are experiencing. Atrial fibrillation itself is not usually a problem, but blood clots from stagnant blood pooling in the atrium can cause strokes if atrial fibrillation is continuous and left untreated for 24+ hours. Usually atrial fibrillation and other arrythmias can be controlled with beta blockers (like metoprolol) and anti-arrythmias (like propafenone). Typically people with AF would also be anti-coagulated with aspirin or the like, but this is obviously a bad idea for those with UC. Luckily, the eart symptoms tend to disappear when the prednisone is stopped.

Best,
Craig
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