Prednisone Side Effects

Hi Mark,

Think you probably need to report this. Hypophysitis affects the pituitary which in turn can affect the thyroid, adrenals and testosterone production. You probably need more bloods doing to see what is going on.

When I was on 50 mg pred the nausea went and I had more energy than in months. However the taper was a bit fast and liver enzymes bounced back to higher levels before tracking down again. Had the third dose- liver enzymes up again- but put on 10 mg pred this time- like you am greatly fatigued, have no energy and my joints ache.

Your fatigue could be related to low thyroid levels ?  The other things could be related to treatment. and be unmasked as the steroids reduce. The reported cases seem to indicate that even with prompt steroid treatment damage to the anterior function of the pititary is likely to be permanent- so replacement streroids and thyroid meds are highly likely. Recovery of testosterone is more likely although time scale seems to vary.

Might be worth keeping a diary of the pred dose and symptoms- to make it easier for your oncologist to see how you are feeling.Fatigue etc seem to build as you get more doses of ipi nivo and I suppose it might be that but am glad they will be doing more bloods on Monday before they decide if I get dose 4 .

Sorry,  not much of an answer except that you are not alone dealing with all of this. Hope you are feeling more yourself soon. I'm trying to convince myself the fatigue is caused by the meds attacking the melanoma- it seems to make it easier to cope with.

Best wishes

Deb

Hi Mark,

Think you probably need to report this. Hypophysitis affects the pituitary which in turn can affect the thyroid, adrenals and testosterone production. You probably need more bloods doing to see what is going on.

When I was on 50 mg pred the nausea went and I had more energy than in months. However the taper was a bit fast and liver enzymes bounced back to higher levels before tracking down again. Had the third dose- liver enzymes up again- but put on 10 mg pred this time- like you am greatly fatigued, have no energy and my joints ache.

Your fatigue could be related to low thyroid levels ?  The other things could be related to treatment. and be unmasked as the steroids reduce. The reported cases seem to indicate that even with prompt steroid treatment damage to the anterior function of the pititary is likely to be permanent- so replacement streroids and thyroid meds are highly likely. Recovery of testosterone is more likely although time scale seems to vary.

Might be worth keeping a diary of the pred dose and symptoms- to make it easier for your oncologist to see how you are feeling.Fatigue etc seem to build as you get more doses of ipi nivo and I suppose it might be that but am glad they will be doing more bloods on Monday before they decide if I get dose 4 .

Sorry,  not much of an answer except that you are not alone dealing with all of this. Hope you are feeling more yourself soon. I'm trying to convince myself the fatigue is caused by the meds attacking the melanoma- it seems to make it easier to cope with.

Best wishes

Deb

LMark, on prednisone i never felt fatigue — maybe this is from the ipi nivo – but yea did feel irritable, agitated, but also full of energy, found it very hard to sleep when on high dose (so took in the morning to minimize this) but when awake at night i was not depressed but would just think lots of things. Its a weird mixture of being very active but also being tired because of four to five hours sleep each night. It also makes me more decisive and impatient, good and bas. Am just saying that thse kinds of side effects are normal. Still as deb says there mtay be somehting else going on. When i am on prednisone i have to do blood work each week. Have been tapered off and hope that my liver readings stay ok so i can go back on treatment. Good luck, the prednisone side effects should ease off.

LMark, on prednisone i never felt fatigue — maybe this is from the ipi nivo – but yea did feel irritable, agitated, but also full of energy, found it very hard to sleep when on high dose (so took in the morning to minimize this) but when awake at night i was not depressed but would just think lots of things. Its a weird mixture of being very active but also being tired because of four to five hours sleep each night. It also makes me more decisive and impatient, good and bas. Am just saying that thse kinds of side effects are normal. Still as deb says there mtay be somehting else going on. When i am on prednisone i have to do blood work each week. Have been tapered off and hope that my liver readings stay ok so i can go back on treatment. Good luck, the prednisone side effects should ease off.