5x solumedrol infusions and inflating!

[Dizzylizzydh]

I just finished 5 days of infusions for a relapse. this is my 3x having these infusions. The last time, i gained a little weight and got puffy, but i have gained almost 7lbs since I started this round!!

I haven't eaten much more than yogurt, salad or plain English muffins all week. Trying to drink as much water as I can stomach and staying low sodium. Maybe its the heat (100 deg today)??

Just wondering if anyone has any tips to make the puffiness/ swelling go down and to feel a little less like I want to rip my skin off!!

Thanks.

[mjan]

Sorry for what you are going through. I had Solumedrol 1x and my whole body, esp face, feet and fingers puffed up. I was retaining fluids...but afterwards, my body did rid itself of the extra fluids.

Hang in there.. more will answer this probably more accurately.

Feel better~ Jan

[22cyclist]

Just give it a couple of weeks...it will slowly get back to normal. The puffiness that is. The subcutaneous fat it leaves behind in your stomach area you have to work off by doing situps...that has to wait until you feel better. It can leave behind some nasty sub q fat...at least on women.

Good luck, give it some time.

Lisa
Moderation Team

[MSer102]

I've gained as much as 12 pounds in water weight from a steroid series. At the height of my steroidal loveliness I also have to wear clothes that are 1 or 2 sizes bigger than when I started a few days before because I can get so bloated. The good news is that it all comes off within about 2 weeks and that includes a couple of nights where I wake up every hour just to pee as all the extra fluid comes out. Every hour. Really.

There isn't really much you can do about the water weight. You can minimize it by cutting way down on your salt intake during your steroid series and the week or so afterward. But the rest of it is all medication related and it will go on by itself and come off in its own sweet time.

My doctor told me not to believe all the myths you read online about how exercise will take the water weight off. Lack of exercise and increased eating didn't put the water weight on and it won't take it off. And he said that a 3 or 5 day series of steroids doesn't put on fat and isn't enough to redistribute fat either. He said that only comes from long term use of steroids not a few days.

If you've gained any fat from the increased appetite tho, that will have to come off the regular way with reduced calorie intake and increased exercise.

I don't understand some people's recommendation to drink a lot of water and stay hydrated. When I get steroids I'm already drowning in fluid retention that nearly overwhelms my kidneys. I definitely don't drink any extra water.

Other than staying off the sodium there's really no good way to make the water weight come off and puffiness go away any faster than it wants to. The good news is that it should be gone in a couple weeks.

[Dizzylizzydh]

Thank you. I'm glad someone mentioned the point about drinking water. I've been drinking so much, I feel like I have to pee every 10 minutes, maybe I can back off a little. Hopefully the swelling will go down soon. I feel awful, puffy, and the heat is making it worse. Yuk! Hopefully tis will go away soon. Thanks for the advice.

[Mamabug]

I wish I could tell you something helpful or magic. But, I'll just repeat some of what has been said before:

• The puffiness will go down, on its own, after some time. I'm not aware of anything you can do to speed it up.
• Doctors used to tell me that, after the steroids were done, the steroid-weight would slowly fall off. I suspect that you'll just have to diet and exercise to take those pounds off. It never "fell" off of me.

I gained 7-10 pounds every time I had a course of steroids and a taper. After a few years of steroids once or twice a year, the weight piled up, and I had gained 35-40 pounds. and I'd already been 20-25 lbs overweight before that.

I began taking off 10-15 pounds every year, and then plateauing and quitting. Then, I'd gain it all back each year, so I just yo-yo-ed in the same overweight/obese range for about 5 years.

I finally decided that, even though steroids was not a "fair" way to gain weight, that if I wanted to lose it, I'd have to lose it like everybody else.

Although MSer 102's doctor believes that fat only accumulates after long-term steroid use (and, I did have some of that, too), for me, it also seemed to accumulate after my 5-day courses of steroids. I'd gain 7 pounds in 3 weeks, even when I was previously dieting successfully, and, with continuing to diet, it would still take me 5 weeks to take that fat and that weight off. I documented every calorie for a whole year, so, I know that I did not eat more, at least that time, while hungry and on steroids. But, I still gained the weight, and it still had to be lost the hard way, like weight generally does.

I'd recommend that you be smarter about losing it than I was. Lose it right away, every time you gain it, instead of waiting until you have 60 pounds to lose, like I did. I did, eventually, lose my 60 pounds, in 2010-2011, and I've kept it off for 2 years. I won't ever allow that to happen again!

~ Faith

[lilymrose]

Solumedrol

I just completed my first treatment with 5 days of 1 gram of solumedrol. Jittery, difficulty sleeping, metallic taste in mouth, and loss of taste. When will I feel better?

[JerryD]

So, if I get this correct, you have a relapse and the doctor gives you steroids to help that problem. Then the steroids cause you to gain weight and that situation causes one to trade one problem for another problem. That sounds like 'good' medical treatment. Trade one problem for another. Great medicine ! Good luck, all.

[MSer102]

Good grief Jerry! Who put the bee in your bonnet? Steroid side effects are the trade off people with RRMS make to get to feel better faster. I got to see a growing blind spot from ON stopped in its tracks by high dose steroids.

The benefit is that we usually get more functional days while we're younger and otherwise relatively healthier and that overall adds to a better quality of life for a lot of us (tho not everyone). People who don't like steroids or don't get better with them don't take them.

It's a benefit that people with PPMS don't get because steroids don't make them feel better. I can see why you don't appreciate the trade off because with PPMS you aren't able to experience the benefits for yourself.

[MSer102]

When will I feel better?

The worst of the side effects should be better within a few days after your last IV, maybe a week. The bloating and the acne should be resolved in 2 to 3 weeks. If you are on a taper of oral prednisone that recovery will be pushed back a week or so until you finish the prednisone. So hold on. It will get better.