Vision and prednisone

[bette1]

I had my transplant about 6 weeks ago and and so far so good.  I'm adjusting to the meds and my creatine is around 1.2.  They are keeping my drugs at high levels for now because I'm considered high risk - this is my 2nd transplant and I'm african-american.  So right now my prednisone level is 25 per day.  I've noticed that my vision has deteriorated.  When I asked the doctor about it he said that that's a side effect.  He didn't explain whether or not the changes are going to go away when the prednisone is reduced.  I want to get new glasses but they said to wait 6 months.  Did anyone else have this problem?

[Fox_nc]

I have slight vision problems after any episode where I have been given high doses of steriods (my ankles get weak too) but all seems to be better by the time I'm back down to 10mg a day.  The side effects of steriods take FOREVER to go away for me.  With that said 6 months sounds like a good time table.

[Deanne]

Did he check your blood sugar level? When I was on prednisone and noticed a problem with my vision, it turned out my blood sugar level was nearly 1500. I'm not normally diabetic. I had to drop everything and get to the hospital, where I spent the next few days.

[bette1]

Is blood sugar the same as glucose?  I am having that checked three times a week and it is in the normal range.

[jbeany]

Yup, blood sugar is glucose.  Sounds like it's just a side effect.  I was so blurry for the first bit that it was hard to watch tv even with my glasses on.  Thankfully, my near vision was fine, so I could still read and sew.  Most of it settled within the first two months.  It's been almost 11 now, and I need new glasses because I haven't had them replaced in a couple of years.  I don't know how much my vision has actually changed, but it's not much overall.

[rookiegirl]

I had my transplant over a year ago.  I'm still taking 5mg of Prednisone per day and mostly like stay on it for the rest of my life.  So far, I've not seen any changes in my vision.  The only side effect is that I gained weight...40lbs to be exact.

[natnnnat]

Gregory had no loss of eyesight until recently, which is about his ancient age (43 soon!)  Glad to hear things are going smoothly otherwise bette1

[renalpenguin]

I'm three weeks out and also still on 25 mg of prednisone. I've also noticed some blurriness... it is a side effect, although I'm not sure why. From my past experience with prednisone, it should go away as the dose decreases. Back when I was trying to avoid ESRF I was on high dose prednisone and had the same problem. The blurriness decreased as the dose decreased, and it went away all together around 10 mg. (Of course, now I have to go through the whole tapering thing all over again- oh well, it's worth my kidney Ned!) As soon as you are allowed to, though, even if your vision gets better in six months, you should get into an eye doctor because prednisone can cause glaucoma... they can give you eye drops for that.

[RichardMEL]

I am dragging this topic out of mothballs because I have discovered that recently I have started to have problems in this dept.

Nearly 5 months post tx and my preds has been coming down - started at 20mg/day and now down to 12.5mg, yet in the last little while I have found my visition(which is already poor) has been getting worse - as in blurry and at times difficult to see - worse in one eye than the other. It seems odd that my vision would start to go bad when the preds wqas being reduced. I will mention it at clinic next (in 2 weeks) but it is of some concern to me even though it seems to be a common enough side effect. I hope it doesn't get any worse as it's starting to affect me at work and in general life which is concerning.

[bette1]

They've lowered my dose to 5mg, and my eyesight has gotten better.  I still think I need new glasses, but I am in my 40's so that could be just a normal side effect of aging.

[Chris]

I can not tell if my eyesight is worse due to the predinsone or other factors such as previous diabetes complications, other medications, or  almost being 40. Mine hasn't improved even when lowered to 2.5 mg. Either way eyesight is crappy.

[rsudock]

Prednsione can also cause cataracts in the eyes as well. If you see "floaters" in your vision get it checked out.
Also if you are having blurry vision your blood sugar needs to be checked....

xo,
R

[RichardMEL]

thanks, my glucose has been between 4 and 5 every time it's been done so I thin it's OK. Yeah I do sometimes "see" floaties (eww sounds like something else but I know what you mean) - this is a worry

I think this is my cue to email the TC!

[Chris]

RM you will need to see an opthalmologist about the floaters to have it checked out.
 
On the lighter side, you can play pong by yourself if your floater is in a proper shape    (Yes I have done this to entertain myself)