[Jerry]

prednisone

by Jerry on Thu Apr 08, 2010 2:26 pm

I'm supposed to start prednisone in a couple of weeks. I have heard steroids are supposed to have horrible side effects. What side effects should I expect? Are there any tricks for avoiding or reducing them? Are the side effects similar for other steroids?

[NStewart]

Re: prednisone

by NStewart on Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:10 pm

I took 40mg of Dexamethasone 1 time per week with Revlimid. On the day that I took the Dex I was an energizer bunny. I also became extremely warm. The increased energy lasted for about 2 days with little sleep between the 2 days. I took it on Saturday mornings at first. On Monday I would crash and have a hard time making it through my work day. The rest of the week would be fine.

After a couple of months I started taking the Dex in the evening on Friday so that I could sleep that night and have a pretty good sleep on Saturday night. I would wake up soaked during the night on Friday from being really, really hot. But, that was better than not sleeping for almost 2 nights. When I came down from the Dex it was less of a problem because it happened during the night on Sunday.

I was really happy when I could stop taking the Dex in preparation for a stem cell transplant. I'm hoping that I won't have to take it again for quite a long time.

Nancy, multiple myeloma' 08, ASCT 1/10

[Dr. Bart Barlogie]

Re: prednisone

by Dr. Bart Barlogie on Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:27 am

The side effects will depend on the dose and duration of treatment. Most patients handle it well, at low doses. Some of the side effects are: mood changes, insomnia, rise in blood sugar, and risk of infection because of immunosuppression. For each of the side effects, specific medications can be taken to alleviate them.

There are other types of steroids, such as dexamethasone, for which the side effects are similar.

It is important to note that such "glucocorticoids" do play an important role in myeloma therapy by augmenting the efficacy of most other drugs used for its therapy.