Prednisone Helped Me Clean My House
I recently was prescribed prednisone (a corticosteroid) for a nasty poison ivy rash I contracted from my garden, my dog or one of my children. I have horrible allergies and know to avoid contact with anything looking remotely like poison ivy, so the fact I got it without seeing it had me stumped.
I had never been on prednisone before, and had heard from the doctor about the side effects which include irritability, weight gain, night-sweats and low-potassium, among others. I didn’t experience any of those (thank goodness, I’m trying to lose weight, not gain weight). I experienced elevated mood and increased productivity. I wondered why prednisone isn’t prescribed for mood disorders, as I felt better on prednisone than I had felt during four months of taking Prozac® a few years ago.
The morning after I started taking prednisone, I woke up with a crazy urge to go running. I knew something was going on, because I never “feel” like going running. While on the prescription, I cleaned my whole house, did projects I had been putting off, was particularly cheery, and was ultra-productive at work.
I was curious about my reaction to prednisone, especially since I heard from friends and relatives who had experienced adverse reactions to it. They talked about the irritability, headaches, gaining weight, and having thyroid issues. I wanted to roll in poison ivy to be able to stay on this seemingly wonder drug.
It’s a steroid, but not like anabolic steroids which have received a bad name from use and abuse by body builders. Corticosteroids are drugs that are closely related to cortisol, hormones produced by the adrenal gland. Prednisone is typically prescribed for inflammatory conditions, like my acute allergy to urushiol inducing contact dermatitis, and everything from MS to lupus and cancer, and for preventing body organ transplant rejection. It works by suppressing the body’s immune response and reduces swelling and allergic-type reactions.
So in my case, the drug was prescribed to halt my allergic reaction to urushiol, the organic oil toxin found in poison ivy.
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Prednisone is a corticosteroid, also used for treating lupus patients (like me). My typical dose would be over the course of 1 week to get the flare up under control.
To your statement, "So I’ll have to just stick to my exercise and healthy eating plan for long term happiness.," that's more true than you might think. I've been able to avoid going on the periodic prednisone treatment by focusing on maintaining an active lifestyle and healthful eating.
Best of health to you - and hope you don't have to take prednisone again in the future.
August 13, 2009 - 7:06pmThis Comment
Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you have been able to keep off prednisone treatments by focusing on an active lifestyle and healthful eating. That in and of itself is an ongoing battle for me. And I know not everyone has the reaction to prednisone I had, which is what sparked my curiosity. I know now from research it is not for long term use.
I have found that I tend to have the opposite reaction to medications than most people do. For example, Benedryl makes my heart race, and Sudafed is just fine for me. I guess it goes to show that everyone is different.
I don't know too much about Lupus--I don't know what to say--so to avoid sounding ignorant, I'll just say that I'm sorry you have to deal with it. I hope your flare-ups are kept to a mininum, and best of health to you too.
August 13, 2009 - 8:44pmI took Prednisone for 12 days. I experienced the same happy / good mood and increased productivity. I still had pain but it wasn’t bad enough to keep me down. The doctor (Authorities specialist) who prescribed it seemed frustrated and said that wasn’t at all what he expected. He explained that I was wasting his time and there was nothing he could do for my pain and the dismissed himself saying he had a meeting to attend.
I guess inflammation is the reason for my pain. He got paid and I get to diagnose myself.
I am a male, 46 yrs old.
June 2, 2011 - 8:42pm