This upload is all about my experience getting infusions of prednisone also known as solumedrol. I go over just some of the side effects to expect and what the process looks like. Thanks for watching, folks!
Hey guys someone did do a real quick video today on something called solu-medrol which is the iv form of prednisone not everybody gets this that takes prednisone only some people that need it in very large bursts and so not not a ton of people take this but i did want to cover it just because it does have something to do with prednisone some people do take it and i
Did get a question about it so i thought maybe there’s more people that want to know about it also i just really quickly want to apologize for the location that where i am and in my bathroom i have some little guys and the only time that i have some quietness to actually do these videos it’s like when they’re asleep so incidentally this has the best lighting and
Kind of away from everybody so i’m not gonna wake everybody up so let’s jump in iv solu-medrol ri v prednisone called solu-medrol it’s also called a couple other things like deca tron and there are a few other names there’s always many names for medications but it is a essentially a very large burst of prednisone i have mostly heard of people taking iv prednisone
Or solu-medrol with patients that have ms and when they go through a flare their doctors might prescribe a 3 or 5 day course of treatment to help kind of quiet their immune system down and help with the ms activity but people with autoimmune disorders can be on it as well if they if your doctor needs to get your immune system down very quickly and that was the
Reason i was on it i have been on solu-medrol actually many many times so i’ve had many infusions of it the the first time for something called stills disease which is kind of similar to lupus i did have students where i had it once a week times where i had it in combination with other drugs times that i’ve had it in those three to five day courses and then a
Couple times it was really life-threatening and i had to have it for two weeks plus and so i’ve got some experience with it so i wanted to tell you about my experience so a lot of people i think it really nervous about getting medication through infusion it’s like nobody wants to take a pill and oral but like nobody really wants to take that kind of medication
Especially if you know anything about prednisone you don’t really want to put that pill in your mouth but if it’s something that a lot of people do and so it’s not super scary but i think when you start getting into infusions people start really associating that with like chemotherapy and it starts to get a lot more scary but it doesn’t really have to be as long
As you know kind of what to expect walking it so when i would get an iv course of solu-medrol my doctor would check my labs before i had the infusion and i would get my pulse checked and my blood pressure and all that good stuff and then they would get the labs back they’d rush it get the labs back and as long as everything was fine they’d start the infusion the
Infusion itself the actual medication doesn’t take very long it kind of depends on the person but mine would generally take about 45 minutes there were times that my doctor kind of made it go over like a couple hours because i was a little bit younger a little bit more sensitive to it but i don’t think that’s necessarily typical i think it runs about 45 minutes
To get the drug infused it does take a little bit longer because a lot of doctors will give you a lot of fluids to kind of flush it through and in really work it into this system and tend to get it off the organs and stuff like that so that can take a little bit longer so you can expect to be at the doctor’s office for a couple hours when you get infusions again
Not really something to be all that is scared about just typical typical procedure there are a few symptoms that are kind of strange that you’ll notice with saw my draw that you don’t typically get with prednisone necessarily a couple of these you do but a couple of these there you need to solu-medrol treatments one of them is a very noticeable metallic taste in
Your mouth as we’re getting the infusion the this is something that i got literally every single time and it was sometimes stronger than others but it’s a pretty strong taste not the worst thing in the world it’s just kind of more annoying than anything and unfortunately doesn’t just stick around when you’re getting your infusion it actually stays around for a
Few hours and maybe even a day after so you do and not a whole lot of cuts it kind of distorts anything you eat so i used to always eat like boy and things afterwards because it wouldn’t really invest with my taste buds the other thing a little tip that i had is that a lot of doctors and nurses will recommend like taking some sort of like candy that you can suck
On that just gives you a different taste in your mouth there are obviously a ton of them but my favorite that i used all the time what were these clean lifesavers you can’t really find them too easily anymore maybe just around me can’t seem to find them very easily but you can get them on amazon there’s so good and they do actually like cut the the metallic taste
Out so it that would successful for me so you will have that and then another something that i would get was dilated eyes so after the infusion like it got really bright i’m not sure why that happens a lot of people report that and that’s something that you can risk that you can expect so just have some sunglasses with you you’re driving home or something it
Happens to be sunny not the worst thing in the world clearly and it does go away in a few hours another thing that you can notice is pale skin i noticed getting a really pale skin after i would get my infusion especially if i had a three to five day dose of it if i got it just once a week it wasn’t nearly as noticeable but you might look pretty pale the other thing
That’s kind of interesting is that you can get very kind of some extreme flushing or i would have liked a scent a couple hours after where i’d have really warm to the touch red face for a little while and then it would go away just kind of uncomfortable but it’s something to just expect the other thing that a lot of people are a little bit more nervous about and
Your doctors should definitely check you is that it can it’s a serious boost of steroids so to make your heart really start racing so just be mindful of that and don’t get too concerned but if it’s really starting if it really bothers you definitely let your doctor know the other thing that is not so glamorous that a lot of people report getting and i certainly got
Myself was like some sweating afterwards like i would and kind of makes sense when you have a racing heart i i would kind of like sweat afterwards that the next like rest of the day this is kind of uncomfortable and then a couple of things that happen when you take prednisone anyway if you get a large burst of prenez own you can expect to have some moodiness and some
Trouble sleeping maybe not even in the first course if you just get like one dose of solu-medrol but if you get two or three doses or more of solu-medrol especially like days in a row you might notice you’re having some trouble sleeping so that’s just something to be mindful kind of try to keep your body calmed and try to keep yourself on an even schedule if you can
Indefinitely if those especially with insomnia because that’s kind of just a rough thing and deal with your obviously kind of stick anyway because you’re getting this so you need your rest and so if it becomes a problem definitely i definitely encourage you to talk to your doctors never use them not to also make sure you’re drinking lots of water on solu-medrol and
Prednisone because it can kind of dehydrate you and those are kind of the the main things that i noticed you will if you’re on it a really long if you’re on it for a while you will notice the typical prednisone symptoms like the moon phase and stuff but that is not every time you get it at all in fact there were times months that i would get it every week i would
Get a gram every week and i still didn’t notice puffiness or a lot of weight gain or anything like that so it kind of i honestly in some ways prefer iv solu-medrol to prednisone oral prednisone just because i don’t feel like the symptoms are necessarily as severe again that’s with me and not everybody is going to have the option of iv steroids and it it’s not
Really practical for everyone either but for my body and for the flair i was going through those few times that it seemed to work very well so last but not least if you are going to get a solu-medrol i’m treatment if it’s your first time definitely just try to relax it’s not the worst thing in the world at all and you will definitely get through it and it is not
Something to be very scared about just be open with your doctor have a good support system and you should be able to get through it very well and also you gotta remember to like these big boost that prednisone should get you feeling a lot better really quickly and that that was definitely true for me i started to feel a lot better very quickly and and that’s always
That’s always the goal right so if you guys are going through that i my heart is with you and i know that you’ll get through it just fine and definitely here for you guys if you have any questions feel free to message me or comment below and i will definitely try to answer those or get answers for you so thank you guys so much for clicking on this video and i will see you next time
Transcribed from video
Prednisone IV Infusions By Angela Mancini
