Missed Doses of Prednisone

I have a question regarding missing doses of Prednisone. Two weeks ago I was hospitalized with pneumonia for 5 days. I was on IV Prednisone for two full days prior to discharge and sent home on tapers of 60 mg x 2 days, 50 mg x 2 days, 40 mg x 2 days, 30 mg x 2 days, 20 mg x 2 days, and 10 mg x 2 days. I missed my one Friday 30 mg dose and my one Saturday 20 mg dose. Left my medication at the office and couldn't get it until yesterday Sunday.

Friday night I went to bed not feeling all that well, was really tired. Woke up Saturday morning in cold sweats, nausea, vomiting but nothing there.. I was in bed all day and actually had to call my daughter to confirm what day it was since I was kind of displaced. I went back to bed and slept all night and had to get up to work on Sunday..

Drug myself into work and I mean literally drug myself.. no energy, like a weight holding me down and the worst lower intestinal cramping and diarrhea ever in my life!!! It dawned on me half way through the day I had not had two doses of my medication... I took my Sunday dose and it seemed to help settle things down... but the cramping does come back as well as the diarrhea. I'm not running a fever and I don't feel I have an infection. I think this is from not taking my doses and I am very susceptible to medications to begin with. I do have IBD along with issues from having my gallbladder removed years ago but this seems different.

I guess my question is has anyone had an issue like this using this drug, and if so how long does these symptoms last once you pick up the dose again..?

Anglhrt said:

I have a question regarding missing doses of Prednisone. Two weeks ago I was hospitalized with pneumonia for 5 days. I was on IV Prednisone for two full days prior to discharge and sent home on tapers of 60 mg x 2 days, 50 mg x 2 days, 40 mg x 2 days, 30 mg x 2 days, 20 mg x 2 days, and 10 mg x 2 days. I missed my one Friday 30 mg dose and my one Saturday 20 mg dose. Left my medication at the office and couldn't get it until yesterday Sunday.

Friday night I went to bed not feeling all that well, was really tired. Woke up Saturday morning in cold sweats, nausea, vomiting but nothing there.. I was in bed all day and actually had to call my daughter to confirm what day it was since I was kind of displaced. I went back to bed and slept all night and had to get up to work on Sunday..

Drug myself into work and I mean literally drug myself.. no energy, like a weight holding me down and the worst lower intestinal cramping and diarrhea ever in my life!!! It dawned on me half way through the day I had not had two doses of my medication... I took my Sunday dose and it seemed to help settle things down... but the cramping does come back as well as the diarrhea. I'm not running a fever and I don't feel I have an infection. I think this is from not taking my doses and I am very susceptible to medications to begin with. I do have IBD along with issues from having my gallbladder removed years ago but this seems different.

I guess my question is has anyone had an issue like this using this drug, and if so how long does these symptoms last once you pick up the dose again..?

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I was on prednisone several years ago. I skipped a dose which was a bad mistake. I ended up sick.

I'm sorry for that... How long were you sick, how long did it take to get back feeling better...? Did you have cramping, nausea, vomiting, etc?

It didn't seem to last very long. I mostly remember severe diarrhea. I think I ended up in the hospital. Please call your doctor as soon as possible.

It seemed like a flare to me.

Prednisone and other similar steroids need to be taken as directed and tapered properly otherwise it can be life threatening if you suddenly stop. It sounds like you had some symptoms of Adrenal Insufficiency/Crisis (please read the link) from missing those doses. Try to keep the medication on you at all times so you never miss a dose. In the future if you don't have access to your medication then call your doctor's emergency line right away and ask them to send a small prescription to your local pharmacy so you don't miss a dose.

It's unfortunate that many doctors don't inform their patients how serious it can be if you miss a dose or stop taking it cold turkey (which some members have done not knowing the consequences and wound up in the ER). If you miss one dose you may not have such severe symptoms but you should take it as soon as you remember to unless it's too close to your next dose.

Also if your flare isn't under control with any other treatment besides the steroid then your symptoms will return while you're tapering and will continue once you've stopped. What other treatment are you on?

Thank you for the information. I am not on any other treatments fortunately. I do take blood pressure medications and Omeprazole for GERD. The Prednisone was for the pneumonia. I will read the link you sent and pray that the next few days of tapering works okay.

So I saw my regular doctor yesterday Friday 9.23 and he took a blood sample to send in. I should have maybe asked to have a stool sample ran too, just in case of c.diff. I did stay 5 days in the hospital the first week of September for my pneumonia but I forgot. I have to say I have not been diagnosed with anything... I only took prednisone for the pneumonia...

Today, Saturday 9.24 is a lot better than last Saturday 9.18 but I still have a LOT of gas, soft stool and cramping. At least the cramping subsides during the day now and it's not constant.

My doc was not all agreeable that it was a reaction from missing a 30mg and 20mg dose of prednisone even though I've never taken the drug in my life. Guess I'll have to ask for a referral to a good GI doc... sigh....

I am eating, staying hydrated... passing lots of gas... Doc said I could take a Gas X twice a day. Any suggestions on how long these cramps may hang on?

I am still tapering.. I am at 2.5mg now through Tuesday after next. Maybe when I've done the 2.5mg for 5 days I'll do the balance every other day..?

I agree about the referral to a good gi doc

Were you on abx for the pneumonia as well?
Pred can make those with normal motility (non ibd ) to not function normally
Abx can have a similar effect
Are things calming down in terms of pure liquid stools and number of stools per day ( less than 5)?
Pneumonia that requires hospitalization can also cause your body some issues

The gi tract just might need longer to recover

Yes, I was on IV antibiotics for 5 days, they did blood cultures to find which bacteria was causing the problem for the pneumonia. Plus IV Steroids. Sent me home with oral antibiotics of which I finished all. And then Prednisone tapers of which I am still tapering off of from 60mg when I can home down to 2.5mg now for another 9 days.

I am not having as severe cramping but still not much control over my bowels. LOTS of gas, and when that passes some (sorry no other way to describe) mushy stool with lots of mucous in it still. Not dark brown but kind of yellow, but I think that's because of the red and yellow dye in the Gas X meds...

I am probably having 7-9 visits to the bathroom a day but not a lot of production yet... Some movement but I could sure just use a huge blow out.. I think I would finally feel better... LOL

Abx basically wipe out your gut flora so given you had iv abx that may be just your gut healing slowly
But c diff from abx is not unheard of
Would be typically all watery diarrhea and not at all solid and had a distinct smell

Hope things calm down soon

A bit of follow up... I think I'm on the uphill side... I'll know more this weekend..

I was admitted to hospital 9/3/16 with fever, dehydration, vomiting and diagnosed with pneumonia. Was kept for five days and they ran blood labs to determine the correct antibiotic to use for the pneumonia. I was given breathing treatments to help with the pneumonia and my asthma and while it helped somewhat it wasn't helping enough. They put me on IV Steroids for two days before discharge and OMG, it was like a rocket launcher. Prior to I wasn't eating, sleeping all the time had no interest in anything. After, appetite picked up, rattle in the chest started to break up and I could breathe better. They sent me home two days later.

I was sent home on Prednisone tapers 60 mg x 2, 50 mg x 2, 40 mg x 2.... all the way down to 10 mg x 2 days. I missed a 30 mg dose and a 20 mg dose my meds got left at work and I couldn't access them until Sunday. I began that Friday night of not feeling well and by Saturday early in the am was having cold sweats, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and extreme lower abdominal cramps and gas. I actually drug myself into work that Sunday and immediately took my Sunday dose, and noticed it did help me feel a bit better. I have since continued without fail tapering down off this awful drug, even going as far as using the missed doses, cutting them in half and then also cutting them in half again for a 2.5 mg dose. I am now off of it completely but I am still having extreme gas and abdominal cramping. I was actually doing a bit better at the beginning of the week but I made the mistake of eating some canned corn... NEVER should have done that. I've had unformed stools since the 3rd of September and huge amounts of gas, bloat and stomach cramping.

But I believe that I had my FIRST semi-formed stool this morning, a month later!!!!! If that's the case I'm praying that I am on the uphill swing. I had NO idea that a drug created to help with SO much could and has done so much damage....I will NEVER take this drug again.....

Picked up some Slippery Elm today, going to give it a try and see if it helps... :-(