Asthma Support Group

First, oral pred takes a few days to a week to kick in. Injected pred, solumedrol (which as it turns out is made from fermented soybeans, believe it or not) works fastest.

As for breathing treatments - call your doctor and get a script for a nebulizer and neb fluid such as DuoNeb so you can do your own treatments at home. Also look into getting a portable nebulizer for travel/office use.

if i woulda known back then what prednisone does, i woulda never took it. i'd rather hospital every week than all the side effects i have now.

ruined my life. worse thing ever

My experience was the same as yours. I was given a 6 day, oral, tablet, taper pack.

My asthma symptoms became WORSE and the emotional and pysical side effects lasted 2 weeks. I thought I was losing my mind, my lung doctor, the pharmacist and the Urgent Care that prescribed the Prednisone, all kept telling me none of my symptoms could be realted. My Primarary Dr. told me it was withdrawal symptoms and the Pred is an older steroid.

The next bad attack, I was give MethylPrednisone, which is a more current, refined version and I had none of the previous issues. It did the job!!

Prednisone worked wonders for me but the problem was they prescribed it to me like candy when I was a child, so I was on it practically every other week (little exaggerated of course but you get the idea). The side effects do suck--the jitters, excitability, and my rib cage would physically puff out a bit, but it would always clear my asthma/bronchitis (which is what they would prescribe it to me for usually) up really quickly. But, that doesn't mean it's going to work for you. They have a lot of different treatments for asthma nowadays (too bad not a cure, huh?!) so I wouldn't be afraid to tell you doctor you need something else.

hope this helps and good luck finding a treatment that works for you!

Try calling your insurance provider, see if they have an advocate programs. My insurance HMO furnished me with a nebulizer, for home, and a small, battery operated version for travel, all at $0.00.

I keep the travel one with me at all times. This way if you feel symptoms coming on you can treat them immediately and potentially avoid worsening of the situation. I keep Xopenex and/or Albuterol with me as well.