3 ms·

Not sure what side effects you experienced with Dexamethasone, but I can speak about my experience with Prednisone, which is a drug in the same family (glucocor

Not sure what side effects you experienced with Dexamethasone, but I can speak about my experience with Prednisone, which is a drug in the same family (glucocorticoids [1]). I was prescribed Prednisone in order to fight off a severe allergic reaction to something that was never identified (this is not an unusual scenario). It worked wonders. I would say it's at 100 to 1000 more potent than benadryl. Now, once you get on Prednisone, you become dependent. You can't just quit cold turkey. You need to taper off. I didn't know that if you try to accelerate the tapering you might experience some surprises. I was just very enthusiastic to reduce my dose. I ended up with some excruciating joint pains in the Emergency Room (or A&E, as this was happening in London). After some MRI, they concluded I have nothing, gave me an ibuprofen and discharged me. This was not a fun experience (except for seeing how many drunk people visit the ER on a weekday night in London). While modern medicine was not able to tell me what happened with me, I created this little mental model: Prednisone was keeping my immune system in check. Without enough of it, the immune system went haywire, and I was experiencing something akin to severe acute rheumatic arthritis. Once I upped my dose, this went away. I was then very disciplined with my tapering, and eventually, after 3 more months, I got off of Prednisone. Five days from now I'll be 2 years Prednisone free. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucocorticoid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucocorticoid

cull 6y ago
I can speak to both. But, for me, Prednisone was the hardest to break; I took Prednisone for more than 10 years with very high doses first and slowly tampering off. It saved my life and, yes, it worked wonders. On very high doses I was on the top of the world—euphoria. But once the tampering started, that’s when the negative side effects came: sleepless, agitation, restlessness, depression, mood swings, and much more. My doctor mentioned that with its benefits she could list a side effect from A to Z. You have one year one me, but I too get to celebrate being Prednisone free.

cull 6y ago

I can speak to both. But, for me, Prednisone was the hardest to break; I took Prednisone for more than 10 years with very high doses first and slowly tampering off. It saved my life and, yes, it worked wonders. On very high doses I was on the top of the world—euphoria. But once the tampering started, that’s when the negative side effects came: sleepless, agitation, restlessness, depression, mood swings, and much more. My doctor mentioned that with its benefits she could list a side effect from A to Z. You have one year one me, but I too get to celebrate being Prednisone free.