Prednisolone rage

[KentMum2008]

In the midst of a pretty bad asthma flare up, GP stuck me straight on 40mg of pred daily for at least 10 days. 8 of those bitter, evil little bitch tablets. I know they are little miracle pills, but my god the rage is unbearable.
My poor poor husband has been on the receiving end of all of it, and all he does is say "alright 'roidy Rita" and hug me til I stop screaming at him and start crying uncontrollably instead. If it's really bad he retreats to a safe distance and throws snacks at me
He knows it's just the pred but I feel awful that I'm being an utter cunt to him.

Any tips on how to manage the roid rage, or have I got to just ride it out and apologise profusely when it's over? I've taken pred before, but the last time I took a dose this high I had pneumonia and was in hospital sleeping it off. I'm normally stroppy but bearable on 25-30mg, but clearly 40 is too much!

I was prescribed 60mg daily for Giant Cell Arteritis. The pain was unbearable but in a couple of days the meds started to work. I was on 60mg for one year before tapering slowly over the following year. I had awful tremors and put on 2 stones weight. Only lost 7 lbs of the weight!! No anger issues. Wonderful med but a poisoned chalice.

I've taken more than my fair share of these innocent looking pills. I have all the side effects - moon face, hair growth etc., but the worst are the mood changes: always first euphoria, then hyperactivity and then depression as I try to reduce the dosage.

Result is inevitably a physical addiction because I can never reduce the dosage without getting a return of the symptoms for which I started taking the medicine in the first place.

So full sympathy from me OP! Be very kind to yourself and try to make sure lots of little treats come your way. Hope you feel better soon.

Alright another daft question. How do you all take them? They're the most bitter, nasty little things, aren't they? I know it's a minor, they are genuinely stopping me from being admitted to hospital but I hate taking them in the morning! I normally just bite the bullet and chuck all 8 in then swig a load of orange juice til they've all gone down. But it's when they float around my mouth and get caught under my lip, or sometimes just stick to the back of my tongue. Then I end up gagging for 5 mins til the taste has gone. Like I said, it's a minor but anyone have any tips on the easiest way?

They really are horrible! One would think they'd go down easily because they're tiny. But no.....! They taste vile too.

I tend to do 2 or 3 at a time with a decent mouthful of water/juice of some kind (something with flavour is preferable!)

Have you noticed any improvement yet? If not, I'd try and see someone because they should be helping by now.

I thought I was better today but my chest got pretty tight walking around ikea earlier
Too late today but if I wake up wheezy in the night again I'll go back tomorrow. It's never taken me this long to recover before, normally 2 days in and I'm not wheezy at all. I've got an appt with the asthma nurse in 2 weeks for an inhaler review, I trust her more than my gp if I'm honest so hopefully she'll suggest something better for the long term.

Hopefully things are on the up, just perhaps IKEA was a bit too much.

Yes hopefully asthma nurse will be able to push gp for a referral for you as well as looking into inhalers.

I have a 3yr old epileptic son with v complex needs who was prescribed 10 mg a day for 3 days. Never again it was a nightmare. He didnt sleep for a week and screamed uncontrollably for hours in what seemed a cycle of manic behaviour and uncontrollable laughter followed by apparent halucinations.
He was so bad we called an ambulance at one point because he was screaming like someone possessed or in extreme agony and as he is so delayed in development he cannot communicate or indicate what is wrong !
Eventually his previously well controlled seizures kicked in and we are still trying to settle them down again several weeks later,
However the doctors will not accept that the prednisolone is to blame at all !?
He suffers with breathing problems but we would not allow him to have it again unless it was life and death!

I think ikea probably was a bit much. I woke up once in the night, but not to use my inhaler thank god. Rookie mistake of downing a cup of tea before bed, really should know better at my age

The person I really feel sorry for is my DDDH. He got himself a bit upset yesterday, I've been really distant as well as being a total cow/raving lunatic/sobbing wreck of a woman. I've had that side effect before too, just being a bit dazed but this is pretty extreme. We fell in love over our shared love of talking and being silly and laughing, and I think it worries him when I'm not myself. Can't wait to be done with the evil little lifesaver pills!

My DH has to take pred fairly regularly and he is an asshole on it. Swings between euphoria and rage. He recently started to take a low dose anti depressant and that seems to take the edge off it.

Hope you start to feel better soon OP.

Wow, I didn't realise they give you the rage. What they do for me is make me absolutely starving, to the point that nothing is safe. Oh the hunger pains....

Are you hangry?!!

I'm on seritide which works much better for me than becotide.

Passthecake when I'm on a lower dose I'm not ragey, just mildly irritable but always ALWAYS starving. This higher dose seems to be worse for rage but I really haven't got much appetite, I have to force myself to eat in the morning before I take them and it's an effort although had no trouble wolfing down meatballs at Ikea yesterday

How are you getting on, Mangomay?

Thought I'd post a quick update!
I'm still fairly wheezy at night, although my daytime symptoms are loads better. Saw the asthma nurse today, she's switched me from seretide to flutiform and put me on montelukast for the night time symptoms. She was utterly fantastic, we sat and discussed things for half an hour (unheard of in the NHS) but she said she wanted to make sure we were getting it right for me.
We talked about why I thought the seretide wasn't working for me anymore and she said the only thing she can think of is a new trigger but I couldn't think of anything at the time. It was only while I walking home I thought about my leaking roof and the fact that my bedroom ceiling is covered in a huge wet patch which tends to drip when the rain has been bad, as it has for the last few weeks. Is anyone else affected by damp? I can't see any mould up there so far, but I do know that's a trigger for me too. I'm beginning to think that's it, especially as it's so much worse at night and obviously that's when I'm in my bedroom!

I don't know if that's the reason for you, but damp definitely can be a trigger.

Really glad the nurse was helpful. Hope the new meds help and glad you're better than you were!