re prednisone what are the significant long term side effects i have been taking prednisone mg twice a day for a while to control ulcerative colitis it seems like if i reduce the dosage the problem becomes worse at this point i see myself taking prednisone for a long long time perhaps for ever i was wondering about long term major side effects things like potential birth defects arthritis etc i have been putting on weight my face looks puffed and round experience sudden mood swings as i understand these are all short term i second what spenser aden said in reply additionally it is hard to say what type of response you ar e having to prednisone since you did not say how long you have been on it patients are generally kept on steroids for months before thinking about tapering alternatives to daily dosing are every other day dosing in your case mg every other day would be a start another option if it is not possible to get you off prednisone is to start azathioprine like spenser said you should generally be on another drug in addition to your prednisone like asulfidine a lot of the specifics about options though depends on severity location and duration of disease as well as histology so take advice off the net for what it is worth i treat patients with uc and crohn s an educated patient is a good patient but let your doctor know where the advice came from so things can be put in context you should also be a member of the crohn s and colitis foundation of america office info hotline best of luck to you steve holland gila uabdpo dpo uab edu
