A co-worker's dad took it for arthritis and it completely changed his life for the better. He was practically unable to get around the house before he began taking it.

I was just talking to a neighbor whose 90-year-old husband is taking it and she said it can pre-dispose a person to diabetes. I'd never heard that before. Now he gets his blood checked quite often to make sure he's still in a healthy range.

Read everything you can find about it, Jenson13. It is a horrible drug that can have horrible side effects. It was prescribed to me for rheumatoid, which it helped, but it indeed tossed me from borderline diabetic to full blown, medication taking diabetic.

If you are on it and decide to stop taking it, do not, whatever you do, just suddenly stop. You will crash and burn! You have to slowly wean yourself off it by lowering the dosage slowly. Work with your physician to do that.

My sister and Mom both took it for arthy. I saw first hand what it did to them and I will never take it..

My DH is a diabetic and has some heart value problems. He lost the hearing in one ear and the only drug available to help this (yes both the pharmacists and I did check) was prednisone. After 2 1/2 days he had to stop because of life threatening conditions involving swelling of arms and legs. Because it was only 2 days, he could stop immediately other than that he would have to been admitted to the hospital. Just be careful.

I am currently on it for my condition which the specialist and rhematoid docs are trying to determine what the heck it is I have, the pred has helped me tremendously and I am now on the wean down stage but the inflamation is wanting to return as I wean down so I am having to slow down on that.
I have taken pred a few times in my life with no bad side effects. I am and have been diabetic for many years, for some diabetics pred will make their blood glucose readings jump up dramatically, that has never happened to me mine stay pretty much the same on it as off it.

The reason for the tapering off is because as you take pred your body stops producing it, our bodies produce it's own type of pred, as it sees the levels increase due to the pills the body stops or slows down on production, if you stop the pills abruptly it leaves your body lacking, so they have you taper off slowly so that your body recognizes that it needs to start producing again and it levels off.
If the condition that was causing the inflamation is still active then when you get off the pred you may find you are right back where you were before you started it. That is what I am going through since they can not determine my disease.

Pred is one of those drugs that can be like a miracle for some but it is a serious drug and should be treated as one and used with close monitoring by the doctors and in strict accordance with the prescribed protocol.

I am very thankful for it and would definitely use it again. I also only take my pred with meals because it can be tough on the stomach.

I would be very careful, too. Did not like even putting my dog on it for a short 10 day trial. Relief, yes; side effects...absolutely. Nanny

I dont feel good at all on that drug but it scares me because Ill be on mega doses after transplant Im talking lots miligrams

I haven't taken it, but everyone needs to research what they are prescribed. Beta blockers for blood pressure is directly related to diabetes. When my doc first prescribed BP meds I researched it thoroughly. I also found that diabetes in seniors is on the rise. Beta blockers also can make you gain weight. My doctor denied that BB caused weight gain until I told her I had called the FDA, then she backed off and said, "well only 1 to 5%". Then I got a new doctor.

I was put on it in the hospital for severe swelling of my eyes as a result of an allergic reaction. They also had to monitor my blood sugar levels several times a day because of the prednisone. It messes up the blood sugar almost immediately. I was on it several weeks and they had to taper me off of it slowly. Hope to not have to ever have it again.

Sometimes we have to weigh which is better/worse: experiencing the health problem or taking the medication. I've been on prednisone almost three years, & while I am better than I was three years ago, I really don't want to be back as I was then. I continue to take it on my doctor's orders.

But I'm fortunate - I've been able to get down to a low dose: 5 mg one day, 2 1/2 mg the next, so some of the side effects have stopped & others are not as bad as they were.

love/hate drug, and like all steriods to be taken very seriously...

when i was on chemo took another 20x stronger than presnisone...knees didn't hurt, could walk, and energy? over the top...then bam! the let down, and sleeping hours on end...

like any strong drug, make yourself a journal and note any abnormal episodes...then you and your dr can go over and adjust your meds...

I've been on it for almost 4 years. Yes, it is a miracle drug and a terrible one too. When I get my dose slowly lowered, I have a flare up and on a higher dose again. I've been on 5 mg daily now for a very long time. Apparently that dosage is supposed to be safe. One big problem of large dosages is that it can strip the calcium from bones. I have to have bone tests quite often to check this. So far so good. I did gain a lot of weight though and so do many people. i have been able to get off 42 pounds. That is a bit more than I had gained. I hadn't heard of the diabetes. I'm on beta blockers as well and warfain. I developed polymyalgia rheumatica and artrial fibrilation within days of each other.

All the best

My father has rheumatoid arthritis and gets regular Remicaid treatments. It's been like a miracle for him.

I just weaned off last fall because of potential side effects. I did gain weight and my hair thinned and I worried about the bone loss. I am stiff and achy, but not as bad as when I first got sick about 7 or 8 years ago. I would willingly go back on it if I had a flare up. My problem is not just arthritis-I have scleroderma. I was very sick and took a lot of meds; maybe they were responsible for side effects. Find a rheumatologist you trust. Bulldinkie-my sister had a kidney transplant 11 years ago. The meds are much better than dialysis!

Raven...I am on Prednisone right now, I have RA, and have been fine on Remicade until last Nov 1.
I caught a head cold, which is a virus. It went to my lungs, had trouble breathing and I ended up in the hospital on Thanksgiving weekend.

They did a CT scan of my lungs, and they were filled with inflammation and big spots.

A lung Dr was puzzled, and he got together with my rheumatologist, and put me on a low dose of Prednisone, and scheduled a lung biopsy.

The biopsy showed a lung disease called Sarcoidosis. It affects people with auto immmune diseases, and starts in the lungs. One thing, tho....one of the drugs that treats it is Remicade.

My Rheumatologist said he had heard/ of another case like mine....and both lung DR and Rheumy started investigating, they put me on a relatively high dose of Prednisone....and in a week, I was feeling good, breathing good, etc. Never realized why people were so worried about me. I lost 30 lbs during all this.

Information is, that the TNF inhibitor drugs (Remicade/Humera/Embrel) that are commonly used now, react the opposite in some people with an unidentified enzyme or protein - when they contract any virus. Instead of inhibiting TNF, they accelerate it...and thus the Sarcoidosis.
The only way to diagnose it is through biopsy and full battery of tests.

No way to identify who is at risk with these drugs.

I am feeling great...next week's CT scan will tell us if the Prednisone is really working. Starting to step down from it....and, of course, the Remicade was stopped months ago when I first got that cold. My Dr is now thinking of Orencia for the RA(no TNF inhibition)...I can never take the TNF drugs again.

Ask your DR to investigate.

Sorry to hear about all of your troubles. I am lucky and really appreciate the good health I have. You all are much stronger than I am, I don't think I could face it like all of you have.

For the past several years I've been on weekly shots of Embrel for RA. They have saved my life. I say that because I was in so much pain before the Dr. found a medicine that my body would tolerate. He told me that if I hadn't been able to take Embrel that I would have been in a wheel chair by now. I had terrible side effects with some other meds and I hope I never have to take Prednisone again.