The most serious prednisone side effects usually include allergic reactions, infections, gastrointestinal issues and elevated blood sugar. These may occur when people take larger doses or take the medication for long-term treatment.
There's no limit on how long you can take prednisone. It depends on the condition being treated and the dosage. It could be as short as 3 to 5 days or up to several months or even years.
However, prolonged use can cause immunosuppression, muscle wasting, bone changes, fluid shifts, and personality changes. For these reasons, prednisone is usually only prescribed short-term.
Other potential side effects—like vision problems and osteoporosis —may be permanent.
When you taper off prednisone, your adrenal glands have time to catch up and make normal levels of cortisol. This could take weeks or even months, depending on how long you took the medication or how high your dose was.
Prednisone has many side effects. You're more likely to experience these side effects with higher doses and longer courses of treatment. Common short-term side effects include changes in appetite, mood, energy, and sleep. Long-term prednisone treatment can lead to weight gain, osteoporosis, and cataracts.
“Some say it's okay for an RA patient to take 5 mg of daily for years if need be, while others think prednisone is dangerous and want their patients off it completely,” Dr. Tiliakos says. “I'm of the school of thought that it's acceptable to take 5 mg for long periods of time, though it depends on the patient.”
Prednisone has a tendency to raise the level of glucose, or sugar, in the blood, which can cause increased body fat or diabetes in some people. It is important to avoid "simple" carbohydrates and concentrated sweets, such as cakes, pies, cookies, jams, honey, chips, breads, candy and other highly processed foods.
Facial hair growth (especially in women); high blood pressure and other cardiovascular effects; an increased appetite which may result in weight gain; slow skin healing and skin thinning; osteoporosis (brittle bones); the onset of diabetes; and stomach ulcers are associated with moderate-to-long term use.
There is no set limit on how long you can safely take prednisone. It depends on the dose of prednisone and the condition being treated. It may be prescribed short term or long term. The dosage will be adjusted or stopped based on your response or lack of response to the medication.
The fear of using corticosteroids is so common that it has its own name: corticophobia. For topical steroids, this fear stems from well-known and severe adverse effects like Cushing syndrome and permanent skin atrophy.
The most common side effects of prednisone withdrawals are:
Lightheadedness. Loss of appetite. Nausea. Severe fatigue.
Prednisone side effects are common and can include insomnia, abnormal hair growth, fatigue, thinning of the skin, constipation, and more. 1 While some are manageable, others can be intolerable or even permanent.
If symptoms such as abdominal pain, fever or unusual digestive problems (diarrhea, constipation) occur during corticosteroid therapy, notify your physician.
Drinking plenty of water and exercising can help with fluid retention. Weight gain and increase in appetite – Sometimes if you are also taking an immunosuppressive, the appetite might be decreased.
Steroid eye drops may cause glaucoma (increased pressure inside the eye) or posterior subcapsular cataracts (a rare type of cataract) if used too long. Slow or delayed healing may also occur while you are using this medicine after cataract surgery.
Also, increase your intake of low-fat foods that have high calcium levels. Some of these include corn, sardines, almonds, broccoli, milk, yogurt, cheese, tofu, cooked soybeans, boiled white beans, and salmon.
Official answer. The starting dose of prednisone may be between 5 mg to 60 mg per day. A dose above 40 mg per day may be considered a high dose.
At this point, the adrenal glands need to be producing natural cortisol, as the Prednisone is no longer providing enough corticosteroid to keep the body functioning properly. At 5mg per day, it is usually advisable to reduce by only ½ mg at a time.
For example, a 1–2 week course is often prescribed to ease a severe attack of asthma or gout. This is usually taken without any problems. Side effects are more likely to occur if you take a long course of steroids (more than 2–3 months), or if you take short courses often.
Prednisone affects areas of the brain that manage the regulation of different neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine — the “feel-good” hormones. Feeling happy is a great side effect some people feel with prednisone. Other responses are more menacing, especially if you don't know what to expect.
Results: Low-dose prednisone significantly enhanced urine output. However, the effects of medium- and high-dose prednisone on urine output were less obvious. As for renal sodium excretion, high-dose prednisone induced a more potent natriuresis than low-dose prednisone.
Withdrawal from anabolic steroids
It can take up to 4 months to restore natural testosterone levels after being on anabolic steroids for a long time. Withdrawal symptoms from steroids can include: fatigue. weight loss due to lowered appetite.
Official answer. Prednisone does not usually cause sleepiness but may make you feel dizzy, irritable with mood swings, or cause you to have trouble sleeping (insomnia). If your dose is stopped too quickly or if you take prednisone for a long period of time you may feel severely fatigued.