Did anyone here have any long lasting side effects or body changes after steroid infusion? If so how long after taking drug did the side effects last?

Hi SkimbleShanks
You don't mention what type of steroid was given, what the side effects were or what it was intended for. Side effects can depend on individual reaction and tolerance - everybody's different. Last Oct. I had 3x 100mg hydrocortisone IV daily for 3 days during an adrenal crisis. The only side effect I noticed were a tendency for a bit of a 'high' ie: feeling great, soon after each infusion during the tapering process (this was post appendix surgery). I've also noticed a general feeling of slightly more energy and less pain for a couple of months after (a bit like when you get a steroid shot in a joint to relive pain) As I have primary Addison's disease (adrenal insufficiency) I'm on a daily maintenance dose of 25 mg hydrocortisone (oral) and generally feel low energy/fatigued most days so the boost is noticeable to me. There can be other adverse reactions to steroids and also long-term effects with prolonged use. Your physician should have informed you of these prior to administering the meds. If you weren't given any info you could try looking it up on a medication data website. Hope this helps.

I had iv infusion of 1000 mil of steroid for what drs at hospital suspected to be ms. The ms panels came back neg though. I have been waiting for almost 2 weeks to see a neurologist and have been having bad headaches since the infusion. I did search side effects methylPREDNISolone. Other symptoms I have had since are numbness in right leg, cramps in right arm near shoulder. Sinuses tend to be either full or throbbing, back neck pain.

These were results of mri, mri with contrast. increased T2/FLAIR signal involving the left optic nerve . scattered foci of T2 and FLAIR hyperintensities involving the peri- ventricular and subcortical white matter. As well as empty sella of the brain.

I contacted a patient adviser nurse and she mentioned the effects of the steroid can last for 12 months?? I always assumed medication would be out of the system by 12 hours or so.

My family Dr retired and I am in the process of waiting on info from another Dr to fill the spot.

Since the hospital stay I have been kind of stuck in limbo just waiting on info . I have done search and seems there are many things that can cause these issues. Just the symptoms I listed never started until after the infusion. So im not sure if advisery nurse meant something other than 12 months.

Right now I am just scared while in limbo waiting for any info from neurologist or dr. Its alot to deal with , with no medical info other than what I have been able to search online using google or a patient advisory nurse from hospital. I don't know if what i am feeling is normal or abnormal.

Skimbleshanks
Sorry to hear you're having such a tough time with reaction to the methylprednisolone. I'm not familiar with this particular steroid and certainly have no medical qualifications to give you advice - but from a fellow patient's point of view if I had this kind of reaction I'd be asking questions of the doctors who administered the medication. If it's not easy to get to them then have your PCP follow it up (when you get a new one.) From what you wrote it sounds like they gave you the steroid before they had confirmed an MS diagnosis - did they explain why they did this? I'm sorry I can't comment on your MRI results - that's beyond my intelligence (what's left of it!)
Re steroid medication staying in the system - it varies - some are intended to be long lasting (those injected into joints last about 3 mths). I'm on 5 different steroids - one has a half-life (active time in the body) of about 6 hrs - three others are 24hrs and yet another is 48 hrs.
It sounds like you're beginning a journey to what might be a prolonged diagnosis and treatment. Hang in there. I understand how scary it can all be - after my last visit to the ER I'm dreading having to go back. One way I've found to keep on top of the fear is to take control of what happens to you as much as possible. This means getting copies of your hospital records, any test results, appointments etc. and setting up a filing system so that you can find what you need when you need it - for me confusion just makes me more anxious. Do what you're doing now - get info - you've probably already searched the MS forum on here. Prepare for appts. - write questions down. I keep a time-line record of new symptoms as they appear - it's then easy to just print it out and take it along to your diagnostic appts. Trying to remember back months or years while in an already stressful appt. is hard - much easier to just hand a sheet of paper to the doc. Line up your support system if you can in advance - ie: have friends or family that know what's going on and can be there if needed and can act as an advocate for you if the system is stone-walling you. Try and keep a sense of humor - if all else fails laughing at the system can make the wait bearable.
Just to clarify some of my comments - I'm in a different country to you and have to endure a Public Health System - years ago I lived in the U.S. for a while so I have some knowledge of the American system (although pre the new changes). So if some of what I say seems weird to you that's probably why - the systems are very different. For example you're waiting for a neurology appt. - same here - however my referral was made by my endocrinologist back in Dec 2014 - it wasn't assessed until Feb 2015 (fortunately they deemed me 'worthy' of their attention) and I've been told I may get an appt. in 4 mths. Patience required.
Sorry this is so long-winded. Hope it's of use. Happy just to listen if you need to vent your concerns.

Hi again SkimbleShanks
After my last post I found some of your other threads and got a clearer picture of what you've been going through - the horse accident, vaccination etc which may be contributing to your problems with the methylPREDNISolone side effects. Another thought was that you may just not be able to tolerate it or be allergic - in which case you might want to get it checked and noted on your medical file for future reference. If the physician doesn't seem interested in following it up I've found talking to a pharmacist is a good source of info re medication side effects. I saw you were due to have your Neurology appt. yesterday - hope that went well and you got some answers. I'll follow your progress on the other thread for now.

Hi SkimbleShanks,

IV steroids, for Multiple Sclerosis, is usually given for 3 to 5 days. Usually high dose steroids can stay in the system for a few weeks. Most Neurologist do not like to give steroids during the diagnostic process, the exception would be for vision problems such as Optic Neuritis.

Methylprednisolone has a wide range of side effects:
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/solu-medrol-side-effects.html

When taking steroids you should increase your Potassium (orange juice, bananas, ect). It would not be a bad idea to have blood work to check your Electrolytes as steroids can deplete them.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/002350.htm