Prednisone 100mg To 20mg & He'S Still Not My Husband!

My husband is a 52yr old avid bodybuilder & health nut and has been for 30yrs. He's never missed work for so much as a cold. On 3/16/11 he fell ill w/the flu. Four days later he was in ER w/what they said was dbl lung pneumonia. Four days he was transported to our capital city hospital. There he was originally diagnosed w/ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) but after a lung biopsy it was found he had BOOP (Bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia). After six weeks on 4/29/11, of extensive physical therapy, being on a ventilator, fitted w/compression hose for blood clots in his lungs & legs & suffering from orthostatic hypotension (his BP dropped to 70/48 everytime he stood up & he passed out) he went home on blood thinners, medication to raise his blood pressure and 100mg of prednisone.

He's alive and we are forever thankful.... However the man I left that hospital with is not the man that went in there. I have read all the awful horror stories about prednisone and I am seeing them all come true. But he has been taken down to 20mg, 6/1/11 and has to be on that dose until 10/1/11 and right now I'm not seeing much change at all. Granted the 'rage' has subsided some. But the emotional detachment is still there...or should I say is gone, completely! It's like none of us mean anything at all. Our children, our grandchildren. I don't see or feel any compassion at all. This is not the man I married over 33yrs ago.

Has anyone else noticed or experienced anything at all like this? Please tell me there's hope the warm and kind man I've known all this time is still in there and will come back when this awful medicine regimen is complete. I look for a glimpse now and then...but there's nothing..........

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Wow! I am very sorry about what you've both been through, that is truly a horror story.

As to his emotions, one of the major side effects of Prednisone can be a difficult in controlling them, it can also cause someone to have difficulty maintaining their train of thought. Thus, the problem could be caused by both of these combined.

He may really be really feeling overwhelming emotions, but is unable to properly think about them and process them, so it is probably easier to just let everything go, for now, and not deal with them, at all.

And yes, it should improve once he is done with his course of the steroid, however, having been on it for so long means that it will take awhile, perhaps a few months, before he starts to return to normal.

http://www.prescriptiondrug-info.com/drug_details.asp?title=Prednisone&ad=true

Have you spoken to his doctor about it?

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omg! i'm so glad i found you! i'm having similar problems...my husband is 43 and is a powerlifter. doc suspects he might have sarcoidosis and put him on 100 mg of pred. AWFUL!!! not only has his mood changed, but he's lost so much muscle mass as well-- which is important to guys like ours. almost two years ago, he also had a health crisis and was told he would never be able to work out again. my husband proved them wrong. after he got out of the hospital, all he could think about was getting better so that he could get back into the gym. and he was successful! now he's not lifting the crazy pounds that he used to, but he's still pretty strong and had accomplished a lot in the months since his demise. then the dr put him on pred. and all that work has been wasted. my husband is miserable. how are things working out for you??

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