Hi Linda,
Well, sometimes prednisone can make a person jumpy, and nervous. As you taper off it, and the inflammation in your lungs goes down, it should make you feel better.
Are you on an antibiotic also? Sometimes good doctors will try o fight the inflammation without antibiotics unless a bad infection is there.
Just remember, taking that prednisone can make it very , very, easy to catch something out in public, because it lowers your immune system, so take a mask if you are going to be around crowds , and use a LOT of handwashing and anti bacterial gel.
As for how long? it depends on the person and how long it takes to taper off it. My doctor warns me to stay at home when I am on it, and wait at least a week after I am off.
So just be careful, take proper precautions, and do your best to avoid sick people and germs. Do you take an anxiety pill ? That might help keep you calm.
Also if you are having really bad side effects from the steroid, be sure to tell your doctor......All people are different, and things affect each of us differently.
BJ

Yep, large doses of prednisone will make some people jumpy, others turn into eating machines: http://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-6007-9383/prednisone-oral/prednisone-oral/details#side-effects
Running the 5 or 7 day course can be well worth sticking out if you can. It will, along with a serious antibiotic course knock down the lung infection and let you breathe better.
BJ is right, prednisone does trash your immune system, so stay out of crowds until a few days after you are done...

Hugs,
Dennis

O great! I work at a hospital ....:( that's scary guess.... I will wear a mask.... not on any antibiotic just the prednisone and a inhaler called serevent Disk! Never had it before! I have to work! Gzzzzzz! Thanks for all your help! I will do my best god willing not too get sick! That really scares me Cuz I'm around them all day! I take their food and talk to them about their diets ect ect......jugs too all Linda

Surprised no antibiotic...

Hugs - I assume that is what you meant too,
Dennis

I'm I calling my Dr tomorrow about getting on some antibiotics, maybe that will help to, not get sick! I can only try! All tho it will not stop virus or colds! So I'll do lots of praying! Yes I did mean Hugs! Lol sorry my typing and grammar is horrible at the moment! So anxious and A little worried. Thanks Dennis!

Hi Linda.
I am taking horseradish daily(just form jar a big tablespoon) and it works miracles for my lungs and other parts of body.
I have been visiting hospitals a lot lately since my parents are sick and
I am sure horseradish is helping.
Take care.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/herbal-remedies/horseradish-herbal-remedies.htm

Wow Yade, it sounds like we all should be taking horseradish. Thanks for sharing. XX

Raw garlic is a great natural antibiotic and will prevent you from getting sick by keeping others far away from you. When I was in the work camps often very large work camps too, of 1000 men or more colds and flu's would go through the place about as fast as a prairie fire. I would most often get bypassed by the bugs and I attributed it to the fact that every morning I'd take a couple sections out of a clove of garlic, cut the sections up into 4 or 5 smaller pieces and swallow the lot whole with a glass of milk without chewing them. Swallowing them as is will keep much of the smell of the stuff off of your breath too so I was of course joking about keeping people away from you. Myself, I grew up in a family of garlic eaters so the smell doesn't bother me at all unless it's a stale old smell of garlic coming off of someone but that has more to do with the other mixed body smells combined with it.

Yup.....garlic is one way to good health and I believe that. My grandfather used to rub garlic into his gums every day and had done so since he was a kid. I expect since he was born in the 1890's and plastic tooth brushes weren't around and in Romanian villiage where he was born there were no chemists, corner stores or pharmacies and you had to do something to keep your mouth healthy.... Anyways, according to my mother he didn't have a cavity that needed filling until he was in his 60's. So that sound pretty awesome and is a powerful recommendation to me.

You might also want to call your supervisor and let them know you might be wearing a mask and why. If you are handling things for the patients, you need to really do the hand cleaning thing, or wear gloves at times. If you know someone has a bacterial infection, wear your =mask and stay away from any sneezing coughing, ext, ...it would be best to stay home and keep both safe !!! Do you have sick time you can use??? I am sure your boss would not want you working around patients and staff with an infection, and it is scary to me to think a hospital worker would do that anyway. Get an anitbiotic and stay home !!! The antibiotic will not start working for a few days, so do not take it and think it is already protecting you, it does not work that way......
BJ

To unlock the benefits of garlic (and onions):

"To maximize the health benefits, you should crush [or chop] the garlic at room temperature and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes [before cooking or eating]. That triggers an enzyme reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in garlic."

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/unlocking-the-benefits-of-garlic/

i don't know about horseradish or other things and i don't want to scare you, but i had a dr just about kill me by not treating me properly in an exacerbation back in 2012. (diagnosed 2010)
i can't take steriods so that was not an option and she let me get worse & worse until i finally got 2 other opinions.
i was put on antibiotics and cleared up immediately; but severe lung damage was done.
since that time my NEW dr immediatly puts me on antibiotics and although i am now severe with pulmonary fibrosis due to the scarring that was done due to that i am functioninig well & have a dr that takes care of me prompltly with antibiotics.
if you read up on COPD we are not like "normal people" that get colds & virus'...we need to be treated promptly & antibiotics are a part of that.
this was the best link i ever found on this board as i have a tendency to wait to long to go in to see dr (i think boldprint originally put the site up)
http://copdcanada.ca/COPD%20Action%20Plan.htm
i printed this & took it to my dr and we made a plan of action with EXACTLY what i do if i have a change for 2 days. please read it---it is a life saver for me!

ps. when i wait too long, my dr gives me a shot of antibiotics to get it going faster & then follows up with the pills.

i don't like shots, but they start working much faster & are worth the lil prick of pain

As to using garlic, I still take my daily dose of garlic/lemon juice mixture and increase the dose when coughing gets worse. It does work wonders for me. Haven't seen a doctor in more 18 months now.

Shoot they want us at work. ....unless we're running a fever! Seriously! So.im doing all the right things to keep myself and others safe! I'm trying that garlic! Just hope I don't get bad breath from it! Lol feeling better. Thank you all so much for your inputs! What a wonderful place to come too!

I wish I could eat raw garlic but it gives me horrendous heartburn and oozes out of my pores like the absolute WORST BO!

I drink tons of lemon water with REAL lemons not bottled lemon juice.

People are dropping like flies where I live and it scares the poop out of me. DH is down with bronchitis.

Schools reporting 10% of students being out with colds and flu already.

Good luck!