I hope these comments do not apply to you, but I never saw this experience posted before, so I share here. I was on Prednisone (80mg) and IV Synthroid (similar) for an extended period due to side effects including colitis from the combo.
Apparently at high prednisone levels, almost 20% of patients develop symptoms of manic depresssion/psychosis. I know I had a very strong reaction, got super angry and then broke down in tears daily (like over TV commercials about calling Grandma). With so much going on, I think this warning can be overlooked, its great you are aware, I wasn’t.
One doctor finally mentioned something casually about circadian rhythms and how steroids can exaggerate your natural cycles. This was the “aha” moment for me. I started keeping a journal about my strange moods and my highs and lows and it became pretty obvious there was a pattern and how I should respond. I would try to do vigorous exhausting exercise in the morning to blunt the high part of the cycle (a few hours after taking the full dosage in the AM after a good – even heavy – breakfast to also blunt the arrival – which a pharmacist suggested) and then just prepare for some quiet time (avoiding conflict) when I knew I was cycling downward after peaking in the late PM. This would happen 2x daily with a second lesser peak by 8 pm and eventually I was able to get 4 hours of straight sleep after midnight – which was further being interrupted by the colitis. I used .5 mg Xanax for short term relief on occasion to get to sleep. I was told it’s not the ideal anxiety med for this, but I was familiar with it from another experience and xanax didn’t prevent me from waking in the night – which had to happen multiple times a night.
I felt like a “pod person” until I tapered to under 20 mg, which was after several months of treatment. The way it effected my appetite was insane; I lost all this weight from colitis and was often very hungry, but then by the time I got the food on my plate my appetite was off entirely.
So, again, this is maybe more for people with severe adverse reactions – hopefully not you. Steroid side effects are a secondary concern when you are fighting melanoma, but it is a mistake to not be attentive to significant personality changes. That can happen. So give yourself room.
After I made a point of it myself , my MD kinda shrugged, “oh yeah, steroids can do that”.
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