Steroids and Weight Gain

Saffronsmuggler
Saffronsmuggler Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all, long time lurker but first time poster.

I've just been prescribed 7mg of Prednisolone to take daily for the foreseeable future. I understand from a little reading that a side effect can be weight gain, as steroids can make you hungrier, and also water retention. I am just wondering if anyone has had any experience of this, so I can be prepared! I understand 7mg is quite a low dose so I am hoping to be lucky.

A little background info: prescribed for rheumatoid arthritis which is currently mostly in check. It's important because of this that I keep losing the weight so there is less stress on my joints, so really don't want to back slide when getting closer to goal.

Thanks for any insight.

Replies

  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    7mg is quite a low dose. I retained major fluid at 60 mg which I sweat and peed out once I got down to 45 mg.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    @Saffronsmuggler thankfully that is a low doseage. I can not remember how much I took at one time. Finally after about 40 years I figured out what in my diet was triggering my autoimmune related arthritis. This weekend I read about half of a good book on the subject by Dr. Susan Blum MD that has a lot of reviews on Amazon that you may want to check out or just read on her website.

    blumcenterforhealth.com/the-immune-system-recovery-plan/

    Best of success with your autoimmune condition and welcome to MFP Forums.
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    I'm on 60mg daily, or an equivalent dose of weekly methylprednisolone, for the past 3 years. I have been losing weight over the past year following a low-carb diet. I find it works best for managing cravings.

    I also did the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), an elimination diet that helped me identify many foods that contribute to inflammatory symptoms for me. It certainly hasn't cured me, but it helped identify several foods that I react to. Tons of info about it at PaleoMom's blog. (The AIP is generally a moderate-carb diet, and I did not gain weight during the first two years when I was following it. Also, many people find that the general Paleo diet helps inflammatory disorders, and don't need the full AIP, which is quite restrictive for the first couple months.)
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    I was on a higher dose, was hungry and hyper. Now I watch the calories in if I need to go on it (it's intermittent) and the hyper mess bothers me more. And it bothers everyone around me more as well. :wink:
  • Saffronsmuggler
    Saffronsmuggler Posts: 3 Member
    Thanks for all the replies so far. It appears my dose is low compared to most! First lot taken today, so will see how it goes
  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    I gained 5lbs water on a low dose within days of taking it. It did make me hungier but it also gave me a nasty taste in my mouth that put me off eating. I lost the water within a week.of finishing my course.
  • leavingofliverpool
    leavingofliverpool Posts: 27 Member
    Been on prednisolone for a month now and have made me so permanently hungry that I have put on a stone in weight unfortunately (hence return to MFP). Am gradually tapering down from 7 tablets a day to 1, and then off them soon I hope. They do make you really hungry, and try as I may, am struggling to find a way around it. So am now trying to eat healthy stuff rather then carbo (get a real bread and pasta craving) or fast food. And yes, they can make you hyper, in fact I can't remember when I last slept properly, so really looking to getting off them!
  • Saffronsmuggler
    Saffronsmuggler Posts: 3 Member
    Well, it's been a few weeks and I can report that luckily I don't get the crazy hungry cravings. I am still managing to lose weight, but with only 7lb left to go that is going very slowly. I appear to have dodged side effects, but the steroid is not helping the pain as much.

    Thank you all for your advice. I have been doing some research from the links shared. X

Categories