Is your being off of prednisone Dr's orders? My experience has been that you just don't stop taking it, you taper off usually under your Dr's recommendation. Do give your precribing Dr. a call. I haven't had your symptoms possibly because I've been required to reduce these meds. gradually after the initial prescription has been fulfilled..

i was told that wheeningwas only loger than 2 weeks use to give your adreanal glands a chance to recoup

I've experienced that also & was only on it for a week...my doctor doesn't taper my prednisone when it's only for a week...but next time I need to mention the withdraws to him too because I crashed! I would call your doctor just to be safe...hopefully you feel better soon, it's enough that we have COPD without adding any thing else to the mix!

(((HUGS)))
Michelle

Hope you have called your Dr.

They always tapered me off of it when I had to take it. They would lower the daily amount every three days after your initial period of a strong dosage. I have never been told to just stop the initial dosage.

Your doctor should have already been tapering you off. 30 for 10 days, 20 for 10 days, 10 for 10 days, 5 for 10 days, 2.5 for 10 days and off.

Your adrenal glands can cause a deficiency and shut down your body. They control many things in the body execpt steroids. You could become Adrenalin deficient, . I would go to er and tell them you were not tapered, and let them check you out. Or go to another doctor there, just not the one who did not give you proper instructions that could have killed you,and caused major problems,,

BJ

I have always had to taper off slowly.

I have never had to take it more than 3 weeks. I guess that is why they tapered mine off every 3 days after the initial dosage. I guess it is different for everybody as everything else.

A month ago I was on 40 mg of prednisone for 5 days for asthma. This is called a steroid burst where high amounts of steroids are given for a short time. I was told not to taper or it would effect treatment outcome. This is okay to do with a treatment length of 5- 10 days not over that.
This was done at the Medical University of South Carolina and they have an excellent pulmonary department.

thanks for all the replies,im kinda new at askin ?s i dont trust my cp as i think he has went as far as his expertise has let him go,he prescibed diazapam for anxiety and hydrocodone for hip pain,he sent me to a lug spec who gave me a lung fungtion test while i was excaberating and said the findings will be bad a qualify you for a drug study,he had a financial gain to be involved with the study,i told him the diazapam would put my heartbeat at 42 the day after i would take it and the hydrocodone messed up my breathing,he said thoses drugs were fine for me and were always given to copd ppl,not goin to participate in the drug study,ill wait and see how it comes out,looked up previous tests they did with the drug and had no success

You've got to taper off. I would call the doc for a taper off prescription.

http://www.netwellness.org/question.cfm/77831.htm

snip
Prednisone is not always slowly decreased. For patients who are having acute asthma exacerbations, it is often not tapered. Instead, prednisone is given as a short-term, high dose therapy, referred to as burst therapy. The recommended dosing of prednisone for patients having acute breathing difficulties due to asthma is 40mg-60mg per day for 3-10 days taken in one dose or in two divided doses. Your prescribed 5-day regimen of 60 mg of prednisone daily is safe to take without slowly decreasing the dose. Prednisone is not often tapered during burst therapy because the goal is to get the airways clear. Decreasing the dose down too soon, may prevent this from happening. Research has shown that these higher doses over the short term provide the best improvement in the airways, as well as prevent hospitalization. Given that, severe withdrawal effects are unlikely with a short length of therapy it is stopped instead of using a taper. Prednisone has a wide variety of side effects. Many of the serious side effects occur when it taken continuously over long periods of time. However, short-term therapy such as a 5 day burst with prednisone is usually well-tolerated. It is possible that prednisone is responsible for some or all of the symptoms you describe.

Any "burst" therapy that is under 7 days, is ok to stop at one time.

Any therapy over 7 days has to be tapered, because taking the longer doses makes the adrenal glands lazy, so you want to taper off and sneak out the back door so they will gradually start producing steroids and regulating other important areas.

If you suddenly stop after taking prednisone several days, it can shock your adrenals and cause all sorts of problems, many life threatening (You can research this, google "tapering off prednisone" ).

A burst therapy is just the same dose daily for 5-7 days then stop.
BJ