Alopecia World
www.alopeciaworld.com
Prednisone
Can anyone tell me the success or failures of prednisone? I have tried it for a week had to go off but thinking about trying it again. I am desperate
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Sarah Knight on
-
I have tried prednisone tablets starting at 40mg a day for a few months and then tapered off to nothing over another month. I actually liked being on Prednisone as I had more energy and slept at least an hour less each night with no negative effects. All of my hair grew back too. However there are long term side-effects with steroids so you can't take it for long. As soon as I stopped within 6 months my hair started falling out again. It's up to you if you really want hair even if it's not forever it could be for a while!
-
-
Where are you at now? less hair than when you started? did you try the prednisone again?
-
-
I have less hair now than before I started the prednisone. I couldn't say for certain that's because of the Prednisone or just the natural course of things. I haven't tried it again. I have also tried cyclosporin which is supposed to just target the immune cells attacking the hair follicle and has fewer side effects. This worked OK but not quite as dramatically as the Prednisone and once I stopped taking the cyclosporin my hair started falling out again. I feel that these treatments were temporary solutions for me at least. I have heard people have had different experiences and their hair has remained for at least a year after stopping taking predinisone.
-
Permalink Reply by Marisa on
-
I used prednisone and my hair came back stark white and I had it for about 8 months and then it all fell also..so now I am back to being bald again....I am sure like everthing this varies person to person. I personally have decided that I am not taking anything for alopecia, because I think that side effects of steriods are probably worse than being bald...but Good Luck to you....Blessings.
-
Permalink Reply by Lee on
-
Yea this is a good point. Once you stop taking it, hair will fall out ; ( I wish someone would make a steroid that CAN be taken long term.
-
Permalink Reply by Jana on
-
My first experience with prednisone was horrible. Dr. started me on 60mg and tapered down from there. I felt like I would come unglued. Couldn't sleep at all and completely anxious all the time. Swore I would never take it again. 12 years later and no luck with any other treatment, I would try Prednisone again. This time I started with 40mg for 1 week, 30mg for a week, 20mg for a week and then 10mg for 1 week. This sequence would continue for a couple months, then start at 30 and increase down. I had wonderful hair regrowth. Maintained 10 mg for several months just to keep hair from falling out. I had a full head of hair for about 6 months and then my doctor said no more. My hair started falling out massively after stopping Prednisone. I cannot find a doctor in my area to even prescribe it to me. It is not a "life threatening" condition, so they will not prescibe it. I must say, I am not so certain I want to be back on it. There is some weight gain and moodiness. I did take OTC sleep pills to sleep more than 4 hours. Big risk is bone loss. I had to have bone scans every year and take extra calcium and Vit D and Fosomax. This is the first time I am not doing anything and I'm scared to death. I am seeing a hair stylist in a week for a wig consult. Has never been this bad before. I guess I just have to get used to it. Like you, I was desperate. I finally had a full head of hair in more than 15 years and had to make a decision. My advice is not to take Prednisone. I have weighed the options, and don't think it's worth it. I have also tried, with no success, sulphasalazine. There are risks with this also (kidney and liver). My doc would put me on Methotrexate if I wanted, but I feel the risks with this are even worse than Prednisone. Go figure. Good luck to you with whatever you decide. Hope this helps.
-
-
It may be enough to trigger something. The only thing is, once you stop the Prednisone, any growth will likely fall out again. I was on it for about 1-1/2 years when the doc said no more. In 6 months I lost 1/3 of my hair.It does work, but it's a false sense of security because most docs won't keep you on it for a lifetime. Have you tried the injections? It works, but you have to keep "chasing" the spots.
-
-
Did you have any side effects from being on it? I have tried some injection-seeing some regrowth with 2 injections-but more spots have came up and there big-I dont know if they can inject them because they are so big.
-
-
Immediate side effects from Prednisone were severe moodiness weight gain and sleeplessness. Of course it depends on your dosage. When I was on a lower dose, the moodiness subsided somewhat. I did have to take OTC sleeping pills too. Long term effects are the problem.....bone loss, moon face, possible "humpback" , eye problems. The big problem is bone loss. The only reason I went back on it was because after 12 years of injections, they didn't seem to be working anymore. The injections worked, but one area would be injected and another spot would pop up and it was just a constant battle to keep it under control. I got so immune to the injections after awhile. I had some pretty large areas, but the doc just plugged away at them every 8 weeks. I would get 20-30 injections at one time. If you can handle the injections, I suggest staying with that method of treatment. I would have, but after 12 years, I am soooo tired of going in every 8 weeks and never having it totally eliminated. Believe me, I have toyed with the idea of finding another doctor who would prescibe Prednisone to me, but I keep thinking about the bone loss. I am a thin 47 year old female and osteoporosis is not my idea of fun. I know I could have a full head of hair with it, but at what cost to my body. I'm not sure it's worth it. I stopped taking Prednisone in January 2010 and since then, I have noticed slight knee pain and joint pain in my ankles and fingers after I have been sitting for awhile. I never had it before.
-
-
How long did you take it the first round and second round? what was your dosage? Are you wearing a wig or hairpiece now or did you ever?
-
-
First time was only for a couple months. I was on too high of a dose (didn't know at the time) Doc started me with 60mg and tapered down. I had to quit and swore I would never take it again. 2nd time was 12 years later after I had tried everything else. And I mean everything. Nothing worked anymore, so I gave a lower dose Prednisone a try. This doc started me with 40mg for a week, then tapered to 30 then 20 then 10 each for a week and then back to 30 and taper down. I did that for 4-6 months and then I maintained on 10mg/day for several months. I have never completely lost all of my hair. I maintained mostly with cortisone injections. They quit working after awhile so that is when i gave the prednisone another shot. I didn't know the doc wasn't going to keep me on it. She always said it was not good for me. I took Prednisone for at least 1 year when she said no more. That was in Jan 2010. I finally had a full head of hair after 15 years and that got taken away from me. I went to 3 other doctors to see if they would prescribe Prednisone to me and none would. Now my hair is falling out terribly and I am going in to a hair stylist to find out about wigs. I've come to an acceptance point with this. I'm sick of hiding, not doing certain activities, afraid of windy days, etc. I've seen some of the wigs out there, and they're not too bad.
-
-
You will probably have minimal or no side effects from 5mg, but it may take longer to "kickstart" anything. I know I kept rubbing my spots and after a couple weeks, I had fuzz. Be patient. How long does your doctor say you can even be on it? When I started my Prednisone therapy, my doctor didn't give me a time frame. Too bad after I grew all my hair back, she decided to take me off it. Hair started falling out within a month and is falling out by the handfuls daily. Sorry to be a downer, but that could happen. Too bad about the @sshole. You need a good comeback for people like that. I never lost any hair except for my head, so I don't know what it is like. Sorry to hear nothing worked.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next ›
© 2024 Created by Alopecia World.
Powered by
