I've been taking Prednisone for 2 days, 4 a day, and walking down off of it. What will happen if i stop?

Question

It makes me incredibly angry and weak. Will it hurt me to stop? I'm suppose to take 4 for 2 days, 3 for 2 days,2 for 2 days and 1 for 2 days. It's for poison ivy.

Answer 1

It's not like it will be a long term thing.  You should start to see the side effects go away as you take lower doses.

If it's so bad you can't stand it, tell your doctor.  I suspect if you've only been taking it for 2 days, then your adrenals are still working well.  Your doctor might suggest a bit more rapid tapering off, and perhaps switching to a topical steroid creme for the poison ivy lesions istead of the systemic steroid.

DK

Answer 2

Suddenly stopping your medication can have very dangerous side effects. If you are not happy with this medication then you must discuss this with your healthcare professional. Not here.

Answer 3

Follow your dosage to the letter on this powerful steroid. Prednisone acts by reducing inflammation, giving your tissue time to heal (and keeping you from wanting to scratch at it).

It also messes up your body's hormonal chemistry and can move your blood glucose all over the place. Did you notice your appetite suddenly change as soon as you started on it? That's your brain responding to your blood glucose signals.

The idea is to taper off of the prednisone slowly so that your body responds to the blood glucose by increasing production of its natural anabolic steroids from the adrenal glands. If you quit cold turkey, your body will be confused and there's a possibility of renal failure - possibly fatal. Ie, your body "forgets" to convert glucose and your tissues starve to death.

Over an 8-day treatment regimen, you're not as likely to suffer so severely, but why take the chance?

Answer 4

After prolonged use, you must taper off slowly because of adrenal suppression, and an Addisonian crisis is possible. After a couple of days (or a couple of weeks, for that matter) the only worry is a return of the symptoms for which you're taking it: i.e., you'll itch more.