• Effectiveness

  Major (for gastrointestinal bleeding)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for Crohn's disease)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for Crohn's flare up)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (anxious mood, shaky hands, insomnia, hunger, weight gain, mood elevated or improved, feeling of heart pounding)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 60 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: Expect weight gain and nervousness, for sure... probably insomnia too. Never go off of the medication without TAPERING the doseage down. Once you start tapering down and your flare-up has subsided, you can take more of the doseage in the morning than in the evening. In fact, once I get down to 40mg/day I take one 20mg tab as early in the morning as possible and then the other 20mg tab around noon. After a few days of this, I start sleeping better (though sometimes it is still hard to get to sleep). Taking melatonin or other herbal sleep remedies can help at night, as well. If I do happen to get tired during the day I take advantage of it and nap. The anxiousness just sort of comes with the territory. For me, it goes away once I'm down to about 20mg per day. It is bearable because I know the reason and I know that I'd rather be anxious than bleeding to death from Crohn's disease. :P I have noticed that this time my mood seems to be much better than usual. Even when I don't feel physically very good, I seem to have a positive mental outlook, which is super rare for me.

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for gastrointestinal bleeding)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for Crohn's disease)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for Crohn's flare up)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (anxious mood, mood elevated or improved)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 60 mg Daily

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for chronic bronchitis)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (migraine, insomnia, mild depression, increased anxiety, abdominal bloating)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 10 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: Just don't get prescribed the stuff. The costs usually outweigh the benefits.

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (weight gain, facial swelling/puffiness, manic behaviors, shakiness, sensitivity of teeth, bleeding under the skin on my arms, night cramps in legs and feet, tarry stool, hair loss, memory problems, facial flushing, bloodshot eyes, social withdrawal, dizziness with hypotension upon standing, difficulty staying asleep)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Very hard to take

Advice & Tips: The Prednisone dosage began at 10 mg (with 1200 mg of NAC) and gradually reached 40 mg, then was slowly decreased as I began azathioprine; now I take azathiaprine with the NAC which seem to be keeping the disease from encroaching. The prednisone treatment at 40 mg a day for 18 months was extremely negative on my daily life but also extremely effective on my IPF!

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for inflammation)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (facial swelling/puffiness, weight gain, high blood pressure (hypertension), fluid retention weight gain, bruising)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 24 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: BP is high..need to taper down

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for inflammation)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (facial swelling/puffiness, weight gain, high blood pressure (hypertension), fluid retention weight gain, bruising)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 24 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: This drug is a double edged sword. It has controlled my symptoms better than any other drug. But the long term usage (8years) has suppressed my adrenals to the point that they make the taper very difficult. I am at 25 mg. and going to try a very slow taper of .5mg/month. Any faster and the withdrawal symptoms are so difficult. I will talk to my doctor this week about whether I need to add methotrexate before attempting the taper. The less prednisone I take the more pain med I require.

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for inflammation)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (facial swelling/puffiness, weight gain, high blood pressure (hypertension), fluid retention weight gain, bruising)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 20 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: This has been the only drug that has improved my quality of life. It is the biggest help for pain. BUT...I was put on it and not tapered off until my body had become totally dependent and my adrenal glands suppressed for too long and will not work now. I personally believe I now have adrenal insufficiency from being on prednisone way too long. I am hoping the appt I have with a new Rheumatologist will provide some fresh approach and answers. IF I taper down more than 1/2mg over 1-2 weeks I have a major flare. Can not think, hard to function and move. Right now I am on 20mg.

• Effectiveness

  Major (for rheumatoid arthritis)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (headaches, nausea, weight gain, tachycardia (fast heart rate))
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 7.5 mg Daily

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  None (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (weight gain)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 20 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: It did not work for me at all. My tongue and face were extremely swollen(my tongue didn't fit in my mouth). A 10 day course did absolutely nothing except gain 20lbs. the swelling went away finally after 2 weeks.

Cost: $50-99 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Major (for bee stings)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 10 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: Stay off your feet or support your arm if its a limb that has been affected. In my case it was my ankle I was stung by a nasty wasp. My ankle swelled up to the point I could not walk without a cane. My rheumy had me on Prednisone (my first experience) for about 5-7 days. The swelling went down the next day I was glad it worked so quickly but wanted to hurry up and get of it because of the side affects it can do to some people. I know it takes a longer period for that but why expose myself to a drug that can do that kind of damage? The only thing is the swelling returned after I stopped the drug but it was slight still fairly painful and held a small pocket of fluid for almost 5 wks. Went in for a second round of treatment after feeling the swelling wasn't going down on its own. It didn't change a thing so I stopped taking it after 3 days. My MD wrote me a script for another anti-inflammatory to try, it failed because of a side affect diarrhea but may work for others. Know your drugs even if the meds are in your hands already knowledge is power. I need to add that this sting was very painful and the Prednisone took most of that away overnight just by reducing the bulk of the swelling.

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for asthma)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (cramps in legs, pain in thighs, severe cramping in legs)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 60 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: Taking Prednisone has always had a negative effect but never as bad as the last time I had it. I have had to get the corticosteroid IM which does not have the same negative side effects.

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  None (for pneumonia)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 50 mg Daily

• Effectiveness

  Slight (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (swelling)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take