Originally Posted by Nicknerd

Kathie,

Yes, same here! I always used to say/believe that the only thing not affected by the MG was the old legs....As soon as I started prednisone (60mgs), it felt like my legs weighed a ton...Not only that, but my tongue was like a floppy dead fish in my mouth-colouress, and unbelievably weak...

Eventually, the pred. helped mestinon work more effectively for me (for tongue and such), but there are weak areas (like hips) that haven't quite recovered as I'm weaning down (now @ 20 mgs EOD)...I'm doing a lot of aerobic and weight lifting, but I can tell that it'll take time to get back to normal...Also, I have cellulite everywhere- like in my calves! lol...What gives? And I have extremely bad posture you like you can't even imagine...

I also think that prednisone contributes to these problems because, well for me, I couldn't function...My cognitive abilities, the dizziness, the heart palps., the raging lunatic feelings, excessive tiredness- just makes you feel like not doing anything, especially when I was at 80mgs....@ 80mgs, I couldn't even drive...I felt like I almost didn't know how, and I'd get these spells where it felt like I was having a heart attack- I'd start sweating profusely, and would would feel confused, disoriented...I think that was due to blood sugar because I'd be starving, and end up devouring a bagel (or anything I could get my hands on)...

All in all, at lower doses (like around 20mgs) it's bad....But at higher, it can be really bad and it just wasn't worth it to me at all...

Kathy...I can relate to absolutely everything you've said...The hairloss, the skin problems...I got ring worm on my chest! I also have a fatty torso that's very difficult to exercise away...At least if the fat were distributed evenly, it would be alright...But it's like little blobs of fat...I didn't have thrush, but i got cavities...I also have had the wheezing and such...oh, and acid reflux like no one's business...

The list just goes on and on...It's not a medicine where 10% of people might experience the following...It's a medicine where you have Cushing's disease, and get the full array of problems...

One more thing...I had a sternotomy for thymoma back in AUgust, and saw my surgeon last week for a follow-up...He says taht he believes that due to the high dose of prednisone I was on, it'll take a year, as opposed to the normal 6-weeks for my sternum to heal...I told him that I had been doing push ups and I can hear/feel my sternum sorta cracking...He doesn't think it's healed...Scary, or what? I feel mad about this, especially since I begged to not take this medicine...But that's how things have gone, and I gotta live with it!