Prednisone. I’ve got more than a few names for it, but it’s helped many people get out of an IBD flare. Unfortunately, it sometimes involves trading your soul to the devil, or at least trading one problem for another.

While patients get a long list of possible side-effects to read through before going on pred, nothing can prepare them for the experience of living with those side-effects.

Here are some things I wish I knew about Prednisone before using it.

Anger Like I’ve Never Felt Before

I’m sure the term “roid-rage” was first used to describe someone on Prednisone.

We all get angry at some point in our lives, but very few get to experience the overwhelming rage that comes with Prednisone.

On more than one occasion, I felt as if I could kill another human being at the drop of a hat, and without warning this feeling would come on. It was fucking crazy, and I’m glad nothing happened.

I dealt with it by locking myself in a room and making sure I didn’t see or speak to anyone while I was Mr. Hyde.

I wish I knew to have a plan put in place to at least warn others of these feelings while on this drug.

That Weight Gain Though!

“Moonface” and weight gain are normal with Prednisone, but nobody expects to be rocking an extra 30 lbs of weight in less than 2 weeks, which is how quickly I put it on.

Part of the problem is water weight, but another factor is that I developed an insatiable appetite and could eat and eat and eat all day and all night.

The fact that I could eat anything threw me off-guard, since I had become use to simply throwing up after most meals.

While I did eat a lot of healthy, whole food, I definitely could have eating better than I had, so…

I wish I had a proper meal plan in place before going through that monster hunger.

Trading One Problem for Another

I was on Prednisone because I needed to be as part of the clinical trial I was in, but I really had no idea about how extensive and prolonged the side effects would be.

Even after months of being off of it, I still experienced poor vision, nail problems, tooth sensitivity and joint pains.

In some cases, those problems continued for well over a year since going off it.

I wish I knew that the effects of Prednisone can go far beyond the time I’d be on it.[