On prednisilone 40mg for my asthma, but my brain is not functioning with my mouth to well, is this normal??

[psychomum5]

DH is finding it funny, but tryiong to respond to people is hell. typing is actually quicker and easier.

and I am forgetting words too, please tell me this is all normal, am feeling a tad scared and I am really really not wanting to go into hospital again.

t'other thread here explaining more

Poor you. Whenever I take prednisilone it gives me the appetite of a horse and a really really bad temper. Don't know about forgetting words as I do that anyway (am quite old).

Hope you feel better soon it sounds as if have had an absolute nightmare time.

there was a thread recently about the side effects of prednisolone (on kids!). It does seem to affect people quite badly.

Sorry to hear you've had such a rough time. If it's worrying you, given your history, I would call your GP tomorrow and just check whether they want a quick look at you! Otherwise, lots of rest young lady!

ok, will wait till morning for GP then, thanks guys.

sal, have been on tramadol before after my car accidents and don;t remember it being quite like this, altho then again wasn;t on all the other stuff too, so maybe it is all a combinaton

least DH is getting the fun from it, makes up for the worry I guess

have just looked up all about the low potassium that I have also been DX'd with, to find that all my symptoms can be put down to that.....tis not just the steriods after all.

low potassium (Hypokalemia) is actually quite horrid. the docs never really explained it to me, just told me to go to GP's for regular blood tests for it and gave me the medication. maybe it is all because of so much other stuff going on that they didn;t want to overload me with info, but I am actually quite stunned that many of my symptoms over the last few months could actually just be that.

obviously not the asthma, but the fainting and heart issues can be.

thanks anyway for the earlier responses

reckon it's the anaemia.

I was so light headed when i was severely anaemic and was sure I only had one brain cell. I actually had to repeat the mantra, 'one foot in front of the other' as I lost all coordination

I am now MNing from bed....walking up stairs was interesting. I couldn;t, my legs didn;t work, not even with the mantra of 'one foot in front of another'. DH carried me up

hmm......fretting now how tomorrow will e. flame is coming in the morning, ut otherwise am alone all day. eek.......is this what it feels to e institutionalised???

When DD's (3) legs can't manage the stairs, she says, 'my legs are too short...'

Think you need inedible meals to be institutionalized, mainly involving Smash and jelly.

well, I did get inedible. they could only cater for me on the vegan menu, and on that I had the same choice of 3 meals every day, twice a day.

I have lived on vegebean burgers, chips and beans every day lunch and dinner the entire time, bar one meal, and I suffered an allergic reaction so bad they had my epipen ready (and I am not joking, DH came in to see me while the children were at school and he was rained off work and had the shock of his life, them surrounding me but not for breathing issues, cos of allergy!) oh the catalogue of joy on this stay would fill a book.....(am trying to see the funny side tho at the moment cos otherwise I might cry)

lol about your DD's legs tho. they come out with the most cute things when they are trying to scam us don;t they

Sorry you have been so ill! Hope you are taking life as easy as possible.
I had difficulty with coordination and speech when I came out of hospital after a long stay with pneumonia/ respiratory collapse. I was also on prednisolone (high dose as you are) but assumed the coordination problems were due to the affects of prolonged low oxgen levels and debility rather than the prednisolone. I still struggle (some months on - on and off with prednisolone) with word retrieval, and start to look drunk/ drop things as I get tired. I had never realised how tiring talking can be!!
Hope you regain your strength.

you are right, it is a bit like being permenantly (sp?) drunk. (without the niceness of the wine).

spelling is hard too......really is horrid. I hope this isn;t what I am going to be like for months.....how frustrating for you. lots of sympathy from me.

dh gets grumpy on it. and hungrey.

dd4 just fed all weekend till last night when she was on it. my boobs have taken a battering. and she just went 'waaaaaaah' all day and wanted cuddles.

ah now, the hunger has not hit me yet......appetite has taken a right battering, altho that might be all the other drugs interfering.

in fact, I don;t think my tummy has any room for food, given how much I am on!

aww about DD4 (and sympathy about the boobs taking a battering). I feel for her, I wanna cry all day long and be cuddled too!

apparently jaffa cakes are the food of schoice for mosty post-transplant patients lol.

I didn't feel hungry when I took them. I was on the for a month, I became really spotty though and have some extra hair that I'm really not happy about. I also noticed that my legs (the bones) ached. I did feel less tired though which was good, it was nice being wide awake at 6am. I don't think everyone feels hungry, apparantly if you have a high protein diet then this helps the steriods to do their job, I don't know how true this is though.

lol @ the jaffa cake cravings

about the spottiness.........look bad enough now with my ultra-white face and dry skin and greasy hair.

DH must love coming home to his 'oh-so-glamorous' wife

Don't forget the facial hair, fine enough not to need lazer etc but I know it's there!

Ah you noticed the spelling! Makes me hungry and maybe from the food I crave (fish in cheese sauce anyone!?) the protein theory is worth testing. It affects my mood up and down.

not facial hair too

magso, DH has commented that my mood swings are worse than PMT at the mo. altho that could just be that he is in 'wind-up-mode' and just not being funny, and so needs to be glared at

still not feeling particularly hungry. altho, the things I would really like to eat (am craving pizza right now), would kill me thru anaphylaxis so maybe my body is naturally protecting me in case brian goes completely doolally!!

Steriods can also cause muscle wastage, eating a high protein diet helps as it needs the protein to work so will either take it via the muscles or the egg/chicken etc that you eat.

The spots do go, some of the very fine hair has gone, side effects are different for everyone so try to relax. I quite liked the insomnia and permanent happiness, wasn't OTT though, just chilled.

Psychomum are you on a short course (less than 3 weeks)? Some side effects are associated more with long term use.

well, I have been given enough to keep me going until I go back in 2wks, so by then I will have been on them nearly 4. I am currently on day 12 of steriods.

am also on inhaled steriods, and also when in hospital was given 2 doses injection form.

the thing that is scaring me the most is that when I speak, I seem to have a delay on the words getting from brain to mouth, and then keep passing halfway thru every sentence as it feels like the pressure in my head fills up.

when I was first admitted tho I was given an EEG (or ECG??....was monitored on my heart with lots of wires), and they said I had had an eischemic (sp?) episode and ventrical tachichardia, which looking up implies maybe a pre-mini-stroke

Hi Psychomum.

It will probably be worth your while asking for a MRI brain. Lesions caused by a number of things (lack of oxygen, stroke, MS, infection) can cause your symptoms (not being able to get the words out). I have had this problem, it's frustrating, just take it slowly and concentrate, this helps. Mine did get alot better, I know I have scaring in my brain though which are permanent, they call them plaques or lesions.

You would have had a 12 lead ECG, it's a heart tracing and records the electrical impulses in your heart. It would have picked up the ventrical tachycardia, this is when they are working too quickly but not strong enough to function correctly. Ischemia is a problem with the blood supply. Did they say if this was cardiac ischemia or a transient ischemic attack? This isn't a stroke as such, it's a warning though so they can do something to help prevent a stroke.

The doctors are vague as they don't really know. Did they mention more tests?