Weight control with steroids - incorrect use of steroids

[Serendipitelle]

Hi there

I have severe active Crohn's disease and an eating disorder (bulimia) (both for over 20 years).  I am MEANT to be on a prednisolone regime of 60 mg daily, reducing by 20 mg every 2 weeks, settling at 20 mg until full remission is confirmed.  However, as I am still binging, my weight gain is astronomical (something I cannot tolerate due to the eating disorder).  It is approximately 10 to 14 pounds in a week.  

As a result, I panic and reduce the steroids to 5 mg in the course of a week.  It then takes only a few days for all my symtoms, currently painful recurring partial small bowel obstruction, to reoccur.  At which point, the pain becaoes intolerable and I go back to 60mg steroids for some almost instant relief.  And then the cycle continues again.  i have been doing this for a few months now.

Obviously I know that this is not a reat thing to be doing, but does anyone know if I could be causing any harm or damage to myself here.  (No need to comment on harm caused by eating disorder, please!).

Thanks for any advice.

[laurj117]

Hi there, I am on steroids for the first time too. I've put on about a stone and can eat a full meal and still feel starving. Its not fun! I've been told that when you come off them that your eating habits will return to normal and that it takes about a year to get the weight gained off. Have you been having aches and pains in your arms and legs too? I really don't like being on the steroids, but after 8 weeks on them I am feeling alot better with the crohn's just aching and eating myself out of house and home, lol.

I hope you get everything sorted, but if i were you i'd keep to what the doc has prescribed.

[poseidon5]

To answer your question, yes, you can be causing yourself serious harm.  

Steroids are carefully calculated so that you will be weaned off of them slowly over several weeks time for a reason.  Steroids are naturally produced in your body in small amounts.  Taking these high amounts of steroids causes your adrenal glands to stop producing so much of the steroids themselves, giving them a little break.  You wean off of the drugs slowly to force your adrenal glands to start producing the natural steroids again.  If you mess with the dosages too much, your adrenal glands may just get too confused to even bother creating natural steroids again.  This causes adrenal insufficiency which could lead to Addison's disease.

Other reasons to not mess with your steroid doses could be the various side effects related to it:  Increased heart rate and/or palpitations, insomnia, high blood pressure, bone aches and weakness, muscle weakness, irritability, moodiness, etc.

Please take the steroids as directed by your doctor!  I was on them before too.  The weight gain is scary, but it WILL go away!  When you're on a high dosage of 60 mg, you are hungry all the time.  Try to eat healthier alternatives and fill up on water.  Also, as your dosages go down over the weeks, your hunger will lessen, too.

Good luck!