Barbara
I've been on and off prednisone for the past year for a rare auto-immune disease. I gained 20 pounds in 5 days time on prednisone. And I had just lost that much through Weight Watchers. It was so depressing, plus I was dealing with the issue of a serious disease at the same time. Prednisone also made me very mean. I felt so bad for my family and at the same time I could not seem to control my temper. My husband kiddingly says he never noticed a difference! LOL! But I wanted to say two things. First, if you are on a high dose of prednisone for any length of time, your doctor should prescribe Fosamax to help keep your body from depleting bone. You can take all the calcium you want but without something like Fosamax, your body will not assimilate the calcium and you will continue to lose bone. Secondly, since I've been off the prednisone I have gone back to Weight Watchers and in the past two weeks have already lost 9 pounds. Prednisone is a curse and a blessing. It can cause insomnia, early menopause, fuzzy pimply faces, depression, weight gain, diabetes, bone loss, aggressive or angry behavior and an interminable appetite. If you are having to be on prednisone, make sure you are being monitored, especially for blood sugar, and get a bone density test to make sure you protect yourself from osteoporosis. And remember, it does get better.