Prednisone Side Effects - How Long Do They Last?

[jshell]

Betty Joan is on prednisone, and is going through the common side effect of heavy thirst and heavy urination, and some occasional panting. I mentioned this to the vet earlier and all seems fine and expected. What I forgot to ask the vet earlier was how long this will last.

 

We started the prednisone last Wednesday and are expected to be at full dose for at least another week or so until another blood test is done, and we may be at full dose for a week or two after that until we get into the weaning-off period.

 

Will these side effects, particularly thirst and urination, continue for as long as she is on prednisone? Or will they abate?

 

Thanks

 

-- Jeff and Betty Joan

[GeorgeofNE]

I think this varies from dog to dog.

 

My Kramer adjusted fairly well; for George the side effects were intolerable and I won't use it again unless there are no other options.

 

For Kramer, I think it was about 5 days to adjust, but by then he was always at the taper down stage anyway.

[Burpdog]

What is a "full dose"?

[tbhounds]

Expect to see some muscle wasting too. Usually after you taper the dose of pred down the pu/pd (polyuria/polydipsia) will also taper. Are you giving tummy meds- like carafate and pepcid or prilosec while your pup is on the higher dose of pred?

[Guest Tes623]

William took prednisone from the time he was 5 until he passed at 14. He was on varying doses throughout his life for an immune mediated disease. The days he wasn't on the pred there were no symptoms. The days he had to take it there was always the thirst and frequent urination. It didn't upset his stomach so we didn't give him pepcid or other acid reducers.

[jshell]

What is a "full dose"?

 

One pill every twelve hours. I believe they're 20mg, but I don't recall.

 

Expect to see some muscle wasting too. Usually after you taper the dose of pred down the pu/pd (polyuria/polydipsia) will also taper. Are you giving tummy meds- like carafate and pepcid or prilosec while your pup is on the higher dose of pred?

 

No tummy meds, but her primary diet is Prescription Diet I/D (gastrointestinal), either a mix of wet and dry, or dry mixed in with some other kibble. Betty's stool is normal, though a bit larger in volume and a bit softer (but still well formed) than it was on her regular kibble diet. Her appetite seems normal. Actually she seems a bit more fixated on treats and on being fed on time than she has in the past (and she's always been food motivated).

 

The vet also prescribed Tylosin along side the prednisone, but that's all she's on.

 

So far she's been good on her walks. We went on one of our longer morning routes on Sunday, but I've decided to reign those back in with the rising heat and the thirst issues. But she's getting decent walks in and doesn't show any muscle problems yet.

[fsugrad]

Robin was on huge doses of prednisone for several weeks when he had an autoimmune disease flare-up last year. As I recall, it took a while for the effects to fully leave his system. He was a peeing fool for the longest time. If he needed to go out, he needed to go out immediately or there would be an accident. Poor thing couldn't help it. He was peeing huge amounts and peeing very slowly....he would lift his leg for over a minute sometimes and keep going and going...now bear in mind he was on a super high dose of pred, which I'm sure heightened the side effects!

[Batmom]

For us it seems to take 7-10 days to adjust to the dose. They still drink and pee more than normal, but it's manageable.

 

We've never had noticeable muscle wasting from longterm low dose or shorter term medium dose pred.

[DesiRayMom]

Desi is just finishing up a course of Pred for his feet ....we're on 20 mg every other day right now.

 

He's STILL drinking a lot & peeing even more. His potty calls are every 2 hours and they'd better not be late.

The first 3 days we were up every 2 hrs all night....now I'm putting a belly band on him at night because I just

cannot go any longer with no quality sleep. Even at every other day, drinking, mucho urine, & panting are still

just as bad as the beginning. I can't wait until this is over.

 

PS: Didn't seem to help his feet all that much either, but that's a whole nother story.

[jshell]

I too can't wait until this is over, but we've got a while to go (at least another week before we can start tapering down, and it might be a couple of weeks beyond that). The urination has been frustrating but manageable: I bike home at lunch (the weather has been cooperative so far) to take Betty out. So she's managing being alone 3-4 hours. After I get home in the evening, we seem to go out every couple of hours until bedtime. Last night our pre-bed pee lasted about a whole minute! But then she's been fine through the night for seven hours and hasn't wet the bed. She may have had one accident next to the bed, but the mild damp of the carpet and lack of any puddle markings or staining has me wondering just what is going on there... But that's been it.

 

The effect that I really don't like is the trembling and panting. This is the strongest around breakfast time. I was thinking this may be muscle wasting or some variation on the "I need to pee!" dance, but it seems to be more food motivated. Maybe it's a bit of both. I don't see much of the trembling throughout the day or overnight, but morning and evening it shows up with some panting (strongest in the morning). Very weird.

 

Today is Betty's seventh day on the Prednisone and the side effects seem as strong as ever. I hope the pills are doing their job.

 

The good news is that everything else seems normal (stools, etc). I was just hoping that the intensity (which doesn't seem as bad as some stories I've heard) would have abated by now.

[Batmom]

Might try giving her a snack at bedtime -- e.g., a large Milkbone, a slice of bread, an egg -- and see if that helps the morning tremblies.

 

Keeping your girl in my thoughts -- she's done great so far, and hoping nothing like this will ever happen again!

[Guest snakes]

I found side effects went on as long as the pred did, but after stopping it the side effects were gone within a couple days.

Both pups i had on it were very sensitive to heat and cold so watch out when/if you are out in the summer sun.

[jshell]

A quick follow-up to help others who may search for similar things in the future:

 

The prednisone seems to have done its job combatting the inflammation in Betty's bowels and her albumin levels are back up to normal range. We're still on the prednisone full dose (have not yet started tapering). The side effects are still pretty strong, but not quite as strong as they were earlier. Panting and trembling around breakfast and dinner time is still pretty strong. Urination still big. Water consumption has changed a little bit, with much of it being consumed in the evening.

 

I tried leaving Betty home alone for a couple of full work days, but realized she was wetting her bed (during the day) and am resuming mid-day visits.

 

Muscle wasting does not seem like it's that big of an issue, but it seems like there's definitely been some loss. This may also be related to all of the lost proteins and other fun events we've experience in the last couple of months.

 

One side effect that seems to have gone away is a warm nose and hot breath.

 

We've got about a week and a half to go before we start tapering down her Prednisone dosage. I can't wait. But these pills, while frustrating, seemed to have done their job.

 

I'll try to follow-up again when we get into the weaning-off period just to document how that goes.

 

(Edited to add note about muscles).

Edited July 8, 2011 by jshell

[Batmom]

Glad it's worked and that a lower dose is in sight!

[Guest iconsmum]

higer dose of prednisone makes you very hungry!! it's a side effect for people so I'm sure it's the same for dogs

[jshell]

New update! This past week, we were able to start tapering off by cutting down from one 20mg pill every 12 hours to one pill every 24 hours. Right before the tapering off period began, there were an increasing amount of bed-wetting incidents. Some of this on a canvas/outdoors dog bed which kept the urine out of the stuffing. Some of this was on my bed. Fortunately, that bed's mattress is encased in waterproof / dust mite proof / bed bug proof lining (partially just to double protect the feather bed topper), and I've been sleeping very light the past few months (no blankets), so damage was minimal and easily washable. Still, it was frustrating. And the bike rides home from work in the middle of the day were also starting to really wear me down, even though the distance is relatively short.

 

So now we're in the one pill per day scenario, and I've decided to keep giving Betty that pill in the evening. And so far, it's working out rather well. The stronger side effects are in the evening, but that's when I'm home (this summer has decimated most of what's left of my social life). I'm now able to leave Betty home during the work day. I try to limit my work time as much as I can and get home around 7.5 hours after leaving in the morning. But she's still left a good amount of her water untouched. When she was on the two prednisone pills per day, she'd go through a bowl and a half, easily. Now she's going through about half to 2/3 of a bowl. In the evening, after Betty's had her pill, she's still chugging the water down like cheap beer.

 

I've also noticed good results in her shape and weight, finally, and even more spunkiness is back in Betty's character - barking at bunnies, doing play bows for visitors and neighbors, etc. And she even seems a little less restless: when I would be outside with her, hanging out with the neighbors, Betty would not lay down in the shaded grass, but would instead stand about impatiently. She would try to lay down, but would stand back up pretty quickly. In the last couple of days, she's started to take the opportunity to relax in the grass in these situations.

 

We've got about 3.5 more weeks at this current dosage level. I'm just happy that the change in dosage has made the side effects so much more manageable.