Cushing's Syndrome from Prednisone

I've been on 5mg/d oral pred for over 5 years now as an adjunct to my monthly Orencia infusions. I have also had many, many IA injections of Kenalog in many, many joints/bursae during those years as well. Too many to count.

Thought everything was just fine and dandy until about a year ago when I began to gain weight in my upper torso and under chin, started feeling tired all the time and then, the buffalo hump began to appear. I'm going in for cortisol testing but Rheumy tells me she is pretty sure its Cushing's and I'm going to have to come off of the pred. I've tried in the past to reduce by just .5mg a day to begin with (going from 5mg to 4.5)also tried every other day taper and it was very difficult so I'm still just stuck at the 5mg/d. I know now that even low dose pred over a long enough period of time can cause some nasty things to happen...like Cushing's.

Has anyone here developed exogenous Cushing's Syndrome from long term use of oral pred?

Or, if you've been on long term pred (like years) and had to come off for any reason, can you please give me some first hand info on how you tapered to zero, how long it took and what your experience was in doing so?

Thank you so much for any input.

K.

Hi, I developed Cushings Syndrome after 4 years on Pred, all of the issues you mentioned, the buffalo hump, weight gain, I also developed Glaucoma and had to have laser surgery. I have been heading for diabetes with steroid induced syndrome X, but recntly decided on gastric sleeve surgery to help my own cause. After 12 years of steroids varying from 10 to 50mg daily, mainly 10mg, lots of steroid joint injections, immobility, steroid induced bone fractures that won't heal (in feet) I was warned that heart disease was a big big threat and the only thing I could do was lose weight if possible hence the op. I have now lost 32kg since October and I have stopped Chol, BP, heart rate, tabs and halved other drugs. I know I am still on the pred but my pain levels have changed and I am keen to start tapering to try and get to 7.5mg or 5mg preferrably in the future. Nobody ever tried to get me off of it even though it was causing many issues due to badly controlled RA permanently due to inability to use DMARDS and biologics. I can tolerate MTX on and off in between infections so that is my staple but can't get out of bed without steroids. I will be very interested to know how you go tapering as I would love to join you with that. hope this has been helpful and interesting to you. I also had steroid induced sleep apnoea and have not needed the machine now since weight loss thank God. Best of luck, Jane.