A high dose of steroids, if your body is not using them, will cause Cushing's syndrome. With that, you will get weak bones and muscles and well as weight gain and possibly other symptoms like diabetes, high cholesterol, poor healing, depression,...
The *art* with steroids is to take just what you need. Too much - and they will destroy your body.
Too little, after you have become dependent, can cause you to have an adrenal crisis - so you must change doses slowly or risk getting very sick or dying.
I had Cushing's and now have no adrenals. I live on steroids.

The reason for the every other day dosing goal is that it makes you adrenals 'think' about the need to make steriods on the alternate day, which is better for you in the long run.

Why did they think you had TMJ---was it because you were clenching you teeth to help you breath, which results in jaw pain? I had a mouth guard made for that reason, although I also use BIPAP and I don't have the facial muscle strength to keep my mouth closed with it now.

What type of thymectomy did you have? Transcervical , transsternal, extended... Where your Abs positive?

Eeyore... If you are taking medium acting steroids - you are simply just going on the steroids that are still there IMHO. I agree on pred that every other day is probably easier and somewhat less damaging, but you have to know how pred works and how the body normally works.
Prednisone lasts 18-36 hours.
http://www.globalrph.com/corticocalc.htm
And a normal body has a diurnal rhythm that has peaks in the morning, starts to fall in the late afternoon, with a sharp fall to near zero around midnight. Prednisone can last longer than a full peak especially if one takes more than a suppressive dose which is 5mg. However, pred is not a fast acting steroid so it does not kick in right away (hence why it is not used in emergencies for adrenal issues) so it may take 2-4 hours to start working once it is taken.

Hey there! How are you today? Yesterday was a tough day for me - barely made it off the sofa - but today is much better! Now about the TMJ.......I was having problems chewing and swallowing (plus I really do have it) but my "so called specialists" thought that all of my problems stemmed from it - I kept asking them why I sounded drunk (and that they couldn't account for), so I put my list of symptoms together for my regular GP and took it in to her. She knew what I had IMMEDIATELY and told me to see Dr. Ibrahim ASAP (in fact, she called for me and scheduled the appt. - she is the BEST) as well as scheduled a CAT scan and MRI. I had to have the invasive sternum splitting thymectomy b/c the cat scan revealed hundreds of "spots" on my lungs - something that my doctors were quite concerned about, but have since gone away .I met with my pulmonologist, who gave me a clean bill of health, so now all I have to contend with are the side effects of Prednisone and some weird blood issues that no one can figure out - hence the monthly blood tests I HATE THEM, but at the same time know I need them in order to stay healthy. What meds are you on? I can completely relate to your inability to keep your mouth shut ; my face was basically "frozen" when I saw my neuro - I couldn't pucker to kiss my husband or son or even drink - it was so frustrating! That, and people would always tell me how tired I looked - well no crap (!) I couldn't keep my eyes open, plus my eyes were twirling around like mad and hurt all the time......Enough about me......when you get a chance, let me know how YOU are today. OK, one last quick question: what are ABS? Erin

If the ABS thingy is my automimmune antibodies, then they were WAAAAY high - my neuro said a "normal" reading is .04 - mine was over 600 when I was admitted to the ICU, howver they did go down right after my thymectomy..........

Sorry about the abbreviation Abs---I did mean antibodies, but as my spelling sucks, I like to shorten things up

I can't believe that you had to get that bad before anyone figured out anything...I guess it is becoming a common occurance.

Last nite an today I'm not doing so good--I have another bout of asthmatic bronchitis (b/c I'm refluxing from my g-tube and aspirating the mushy stuff I'm trying to eat. I'm making arrangements to get the J-tube replaced which should eliminate the reflux. I also got prednisone for the asthma and leviquin for the infection (which of course I don't have the muscle strength to cough up)

Hopefully I'm preventing a trip to the ED.

This all sucks, but at least things should get better and my Hopkins appoint is only 8 days away.