Does Prednisone help with fatigue?

Hello thank you for sharing your story/question with us. We're all here for you and we hear you. Prednisone did help me, but in my case me and my neurologist took an aggressive approach. I was 17 when I got diagnosed just starting college and I'm a theater major so being in control of my body, getting my voice back and being able to move on command was very important to me. I was put on 10mg of prednisone and slowly increased until I was taking 100mg (it's a lot, I know), 120mg of mycophenolate, 60mg of mestinon (with the option to take more if needed) and I was getting 5 sessions of IVIG monthly. In 3 months I had full control over my body and I had my ENERGY back. The only downside was gaining 50lbs by being on so much medication and since I had so much energy I wasnt able to sleep at night. It is a learning experience and I recommend talking with your doctor about your goals. Sorry this reply was pretty lengthy but I hope it helped. Have you tried writing down the activities you do throughout the day and making notes on how they made you feel? If not maybe you can try that, that way you can see which activities are causing more fatigue in your body and you'll be able to choose whether or not to shorten your work load and save some activities for a different day. Best of luck to you and please let us know how everything goes. - Jazmin (team member)

Gregg, I was diagnosed with MG back in December 2008. I was put on Mestinon to begin with. I honestly couldn't tell it was helping me much, but I'm sure it was, as the breathing difficulties seemed to ease up a little, but my right eye still wouldn't open. I was finally put on Prednisone 10mg. After about 2 weeks, my symptoms were finally fading away and my eyelid was finally opening. I was on Prednisone for some time, but it was causing a multitude of adverse side effects, so my neurologist decided it was time to try something else. I was put on a medication she had read about and slowly "weaned off" of Prednisone. Once the dosage started decreasing, some of my symptoms also started decreasing in intensity. Once off of the medication, those side effects, including the fatigue began improving. That said, fatigue is also a big part of myasthenia itself, so unless you go into remission, I doubt the fatigue that's associated with MG will entirely go away. Since MG affects the muscles, it will make you feel tired, & potentially weak, as well. There are several articles written on MG fatigue. Here's one I think may help. https://myasthenia-gravis.com/clinical/fatigue Best wishes! - Janice (Myasthenia-Gravis.com Team)

Hi , First off, I’m so sorry to hear you’ve just been newly diagnosed. Your approach to medicine sounds exactly like me when I was first diagnosed in 2015. I, too, started out with Mestinon but unfortunately didn’t feel a complete relief from my symptoms. A couple months later, I ended up having a Thymectomy. Post Thymectomy I didn’t recover as well as I’d hoped and ended up on prednisone. Initially, they started me on 10mg daily with the goal of increasing to 40mg daily. I ended up stopping (with my doctors approval) at 25mg daily and it honestly helped improve my symptoms including the unrelenting fatigue so much. I got a lot of my energy back and even stopped drinking coffee that I had become so reliant on. Throughout the years, I’ve decreased my dose to 4mg daily and every dose in between. I did find that once I got below 10mg every other day (5mg daily), the fatigue came back. It’s definitely not like it was before I began prednisone but I am aware that it’s less energy than I’m used to from being on higher doses. I hope that helps give you some consultation. Sending well wishes your way! -Mallory (Team Member)

Sorry to hear of your illness. Prednisone for me did help. But with MG especially newly diagnosed its a learning experience. Keep track of your symptoms and your meds, and use it as a guide to better health. Mayo Clinic, and John Hopkins on the web have good info about MG. Good luck