Breathing Issues and Prednisone

[Valsmum]

I am weaning off of prednisone and it is hard to get a deep breath, I don’t feel as though I am in danger. As long as I can breathe even though it is uncomfortable I think I will keep on weaning.I have had pain in my sternum and chest all week, it feels like arthritis, when I take a dee breath it hurts. I think it is costco..
Once I told my dr I had a hard time getting a good breath and he told me take more prednisone. I try not to call the office and just figure these things out myself.

Does your chest hurt when you wean off of Prednisone? Do you continue to wean even when it messes with your breathing? I am weaning .25mg a week.

THANK YOU. I APPRECIATE IT.

Happy New Year!

[Anonymous]

I’m weaning as well and have not experienced this. In weaning down from 20 and am at 10. I’ve been told to go 1mg a month now. I’ve been on pred for 6 months.

[Valsmum]

Thank you Lexy. I am weaning from 8mgs. Glad my joints are improving but the weaning is going slowly, I am trying to stay positive, but the breathing stuff is making me 🙁

I am going down 1mg a month as well.

[JoAnnC68]

Hi….
I am weaning off of prednisone too, I was at 5 mg in Nov and have eased down to 3mg this week. I haven’t notice any problems with breathing, do you think it could be something else causing the problem? Are you on any other kind of medications?
Do be careful and take care of yourself!
Jo Ann

Diagnosed with RA Jan 2012
Oct 2015- RF has dropped to 19!!! Isn't that Great! ?! I'm feeling wonderful! I'm still taking Mino 2 x daily...if I don't forget!
Oct 2014 RF has dropped to 23.1!! Taking Mino 100mg 2 x daily. No Pains & doing great!!
Oct 2013-RF has dropped to 40.9!!! Feeling Wonderful!!
7-17-2013 I'm going Great!! Still taking mino 100mg twice daily. No pains or Complaints!
5-9-2013 RA Dr said I was doing good, I could stop taking prednisone since I dropped to 1/2 mg...so will

[A Friend]

Hello… especially to those who have posted about weaning off Pred…

Something important for my own improvement from pain and discomfort, and bone loss and lots of other things (and this applies to all your/our conditions) is to be acutely aware of how acidic the body is. We cannot heal as well if our body tissues are overly acidic. If we are overly acidic, this can lead not only to pain, but bone loss, sciatica, and all sorts of problems, because this acidic condition may cause our inability to excrete toxic wastes through the kidneys. (If we don’t have enough minerals to neutralize these wastes, the waste must be stored in the body or these will damage the kidneys.) The body will continue to borrow/(steal) minerals from all over the body in order to keep our blood pH where it MUST be to sustain life… and this is when we will definitely go further downhill and develop pain that will not go away.

Along with this can be all sorts of organisms who thrive in an acidic environment. So, we need to address healthy body needs on all fronts we can identify. But, to me, I learned the hard way that I must monitor my pH as a starting point, because all of the unfriendly organisms keep creating more acidic wastes and thriving and growing in the acidic environment. Let their surroundings become alkaline, and this healthy environment for us causes them to diminish. This can be very helpful along with our other protocols.

Here are some links on this subject I’ve saved in a Word document on my PC:

http://www.8candlesonline.com/purify/what_is/about.html

Click on the links below to go to the SUBJECT YOU WANT
? About Acid
? Attitude and Acidosis
? Symptoms of Acidosis
? 10 Reasons To Avoid Acidosis
? An Acid pH Is the Seed-Bed of Degenerative Diseases
? Understanding pH Level and Why Many People Have Disease/Cancer
? Total healing of chronic illness
? How To Test Your pH Level

Good luck to all of you. May the new year bring better health to all of us!

AF

[laurawm]

I have had pain throughout my chest and upon deep breathing since beginning minocycline back up about three months ago now. It has improved now such that the sharp pains felt during a deep breath have subsided and it is more like a feeling of being bruised throughout my lungs and rib cage and sternum. For me, I believe that as I came off peptide shots and then started the mino my immune system kicked in and the pain has been herxing. I don’t know if this could apply to you with prednisone, but I thought I’d share my experience as the difficulty breathing and pain I’ve felt resonated with what you described.

[Dawn]

Valsmum,

I have recently weaned off prednisone completely. Throughout the last 3 months of it, however, I have had the “I cannot get a decent/deep breathe” feeling. I chalked it up to a reaction I was possibly having to the Plaquenil I had been on for 6+ months as I also had a weakening in my arms and hands that seemed very odd. I stopped the Plaquenil for that (safety) reason and moved forward with everything else. It seems I still had some days since I stopped in which my breathing felt much shallower than it should be, but overall it has dissipated. I couldn’t say for sure if it was the Pred or the Plaq since I completed the prednisone about 3 weeks ago. Just wanted to say that I had experienced a similar thing and apparently 1 or the other was a contributor.

Best!
Dawn

DawnF

[Krys]

Hi Sheri,

I have never taken prednisone, so maybe I should not voice my opinion.
Well, I have taken prednisolone (prednisone eye drops) for a few months. Even though tapering was slow, once I was off, I would develop severe inflammation within 2 days. I successfully tapered off, after a few months of unsuccessful attempts, by increasing anti-inflammatories (Quercetin 3 x 3 caps a day + 3 x 3 caps of Curcumin, which is a Turmeric extract, hence much stronger than plain Turmeric) + I introduced and slowly, weekly increased Stephania tetrandra to 3 x 4 caps of Stethania extract. In the beginning I was taking all above alongside Prednisolone, then all above + Prednisolone every other day, then every 3-4 days, then the above (no Prednisolone) was enough. After 1 month of just herbs I decreased Quercetin and Curcumin while keeping full dosage of Stephania extract, then I dropped Quercetin and only occasionally took Curcumin or Turmeric instead of Curcumin. Then I dropped Turmeric (have always taken it as needed, so may still use it if need be) and started substituting extract of Stephania for whole herb. As of this week I am only on whole herb Stephania (no Prednisolone, no Turmeric, no Quercetin, no Ginger).

Stephania, acc. to Stephen Harrod Buhner is “a potent anti-inflammatory agent — more so than corticosteroid prednisolone” but all this praise is mostly for eye conditions.
Buhner discusses Stephania within his protocol for Lyme disease, so Lyme, including Lyme arthritis, is the primary focus.

Functions in Lyme infection: For neural and arthritic inflammation, ocularborreliosis, edema, myalgias, endothelial protection, and as an immunomodulator.
Specific indications: Bell’s palsy, ocular involvement during Lyme infection….Lyme arthritis with edema in the knee (or other joint), neuroborreliosis, antibiotic-resistant Lyme arthritis, late stage infections of the nervous system, joints, and skin.
Traditional Chinese Medicine: S. tetrandra has been used for millenia in China. Its uses correspond to those actions listed above: pain, edema (especially in lower parts of the body), ascites, abdominal distention, fever, red, hot, swollen and painful joints.

I seem to remember than some time ago you mentioned your tests results were either indicative for Lyme or positive for Lyme. You never mentioned it again, so maybe you found out that you were emailed wrong results by mistake.
But in case they were indicative, you may be interested in incorporating Lyme herbs for your arthritis and joint inflammation. They should help the lungs, too. If not, sorry for bringing the herbs up. Hopefully this info will still be useful to somebody.

Now I’ll relate to the points within your posts that strike me as possibly having impact on your present issue:
1. There may be inflammation within lungs going on due to some microbial activity.
My lungs problems, shortness of breath are probably microbial in nature but always worse with deepened anemia, thick blood (fibrillation), vein constriction, always during abx break (still unhealed babesia, bartonella, mycoplasmas), always worse when the detox is overdue.
As I am always deficient in magnesium and don’t take it regularly now, I often get relief with heart and lungs when I take magnesium (here: vasodilator function). As thick blood is an issue for me, I take nattokinase / systemic enzymes almost daily. If I miss it for a few days, I can definitely feel the difference.

2. All raw vegetable diet always brings to my mind raw vegetable juicing within Dr. Gerson’s cancer therapy. Dr. Gerson used raw vegetable juices to pull off the toxins from the body. Because of huge amount of enzymes in the raw juices, the amount of toxins pulled out was huge and intense detox through coffee enemas had to be employed.
“Healing with whole Foods. Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition” by Paul Pitchford:

*Detoxification is brisk with Gerson’s fruit- and vegetable-juice regimen, and can be deadly without enemas. So much toxin is released into the blood stream during the healing process that it blocks and poisons the liver, causing pain in any number of areas of the body (the healthy liver supports smooth qi flow throughout the body, and qi flow disruption results in spasms and cramps). (…)
* …holding pressure points (acupressure) and acupuncture treatments are often useful; Gerson recommended rubbing the surface of the skin daily with wine vinegar and rubbing alcohol (two tablespoons of each, in a glass of water). This helps the skin to release the toxins.

Your diet is not that intense, so all raw veggies and fruit would not have such a strong pulling off toxins effect. But, in the light of raw juicing having such an effect, maybe introducing detox to your diet would be helpful.
I also thought that your body might benefit from some cooked veggies or vegetable soups in addition to raw vegetables. Raw vegetables are very cooling in nature and because of that, if you are already “cold” by nature (most rheumatics are) which would be lowered core body temperature, insufficient digestive secretions and pains of joints and organs due to that, then introducing some cooked veggies and some “sweet” vegetables / fruit would be helpful. It would also help not to drink /eat anything cold. Everything should be room temperature or slightly warm.
Raw veggies only diet helps quench inflammation, pulls out the toxins but it is not as nourishing to the cells as cooked veggies. Even Gerson used some cooked veggies, veg. soups in his protocol. Sometimes, especially in very depleted conditions, he allowed some meat. Introducing some cooked vegetables may help warm up the body and keep it more nourished.

In case of “cold” condition, warm compresses (especially on lower belly, unless contraindicated by any “hot” inflammation there) and hot fresh ginger + lemon + honey tea (you can add some cinnamon, cardamon, even cayenne pepper for pain, if your stomach lining is OK with it) could be helpful.

3. Tapering off prednisone, a potent anti-inflammatory, could be easier if an herbal / other anti-inflammatory is used alongside. Without that measure, there is most often increase in pain and inflammation.
“Natural” anti-inflammatories:
Boswellia, Bromelain, Chamomile, Curcumin, Ginger, Flaxseed, Hawthorn, Licorice, Meadowsweet, Quercetin, Willow Bark, Yarrow.
Buhner’s herbs:
Stephania tertrandra…..also specific for arthritic inflammations that have an autoimmune dynamic such as rhumatoid arthritis. ….Potentiate the actions of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals…free scavenger…
Contraindications: It is a powerful calcium-channel blocker so should not be taken in atrioventricular block. Not for people on calcium channel blockers or beta blockers drugs, not for severely hypotensive people. Potentiates the activity of pharmaceuticals, so their dosage may have to be lowered.
Smilax/ sarsparilla – I take it for joint pain if bad.
“Binds endotoxins in the blood (blood cleanser), immunomodulatory, antibacterial, antiparasitical, antiinflammatory, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, enhances bioavailability of other herbs (and drugs), analgesic, antioxidant, antirheumatic, antiallergic, antiasthmatic, antimutagenic, antifungal, antifatigue. (…) Clinical studies have also found the herb effective for a variety of respiratory, allergic, and skin diseases..(…) Clinical studies in India have found that the herb is effective in treating cervical spondylosis, a degenerative condition of the spine.”
Japanese Knotweed (polygonum cuspidatum) Used for treatment of Borrelia, Bartonella, broadly antifungal, inhibitive against Candida, broad antibacterial action,…, antirheumatic,…respiratory infections (cold, sore throat, bronchitis, bronchiolitis) and damage to skin,…antiviral,…muscle inflammation, meningitis, encephalitis, and pericarditis (inflammation of the membrane around the heart). (…) a potent immunomodulator. Enhances and potentiates the action of other drugs and herbs…”
Teasel root (Xu Duan) – I was taking Teasel Root extract for tendon inflammation and pain and it helped completely within 1 month of use.
more:
Buhner’s arthrits tea recipe: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6249&hilit=Krys+Storl&start=10

Sorry for the lengthy post. I can’t seem to be able to do them short!
If it had been me, I would first do detox + anti-inflammatories + vit C + magnesium. I would add some cooked veggies, drink ginger tea. If no results, I would introduce either some anti-microbial (outside of abx, there are herbals, colloidal silver, vit.C +salt, homeopathic + more). If there is no improvement very soon, a visit to the doctor is a must.

Hope the problem disappears very soon. Hugs, Krys

[Krys]

One more thing:
I have been using “Oxy E, Cellular Oxygen Enhancer, with Fulvic Acid. Body p/h balancing Formula – Alkalizing” whenever shortness of breath is more pronounced. It always helps. I get inner tremors, at times quite intense, whenever the shortness of breath is present. I used to take them a few times a day, now just now and then. The bottle, just 1 oz, lasts for a long time, in my case, months. I got it on Amazon, but it is always good to Google the name + compare the prices.
I described the list of ingredients here:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8117&p=64634&hilit=Krys+Oxy+E#p64634
At present, when both my heart and lungs are much better, the shortness of breath and accompanying inner tremors subside after Oxy E within minutes and the effect lasts for hours.
Krys

[Valsmum]

Thank you Jo Ann , I appreciate it, and no, I am not currently on any abx right now.
Thank you Laura for sharing your thoughts with me, I appreciate it.
Dawn, That is great you were able to taper off of your pred and plaquenil. Every medicine has a side effects. I read RA affects the whole body including the organs, so it makes sense that somedays there might be inflammation in the lungs/sternum. Thank you for replying.

Dear AFriend,
Thanks for the thoughtfulness, I am interested in the alkaline body,I have read so many times that cancer and disease canot live in an alkaline bloodstream/body. I’m looking forward to reading the link you posted on the info you have gathered. I read a book recently by Jethro Kloss and although it is old he said the same thing to get the body in an alkaline state to rid itslf of disease.

Dear Krys,Thanks again for the support, you’re a gem. Thanks for all the ideas, I do eat cooked food and veggies, I just noticed starch is something I need to keep my eye on, as far as causing inflammation. Some veggies get starchy when cooked.
I have read about fruits and veggies do the cleaning and meats or marrow building up the muscles and body. I will have to try some of the supplements you recommended I have beed througha few of them, but one that looks intersting is the Oxy and also the chinese medicine called S. Tetrandra, Is the latter easy to get or do you have to go to a chinese medicine doctor? I have a place by my house called Sprouts and they have a lot of vitamins and herbs.
Thanks again for all the tips.
Happy New Year !!!! 🙂

[A Friend]

Valsmum, As I read through all the posts/replies to your thread, it dawned on me that a very important paper to me several years ago, is important enough to repost again here for you. In fact, when I re-read the article, it means even more to me now than it did then. Am pasting the body of an e-mail I sent to someone last night. I’m sure I posted it previously on RBF BB, but there may be new people reading this who don’t know about it, or those like me, who could benefit from reading/re-reading the paper:

http://www.health-science-spirit.com/magnesiumchloride.html
Magnesium Chloride for Health & Rejuvenation by Walter Last.

The information contained in this article is outstanding. Another source of information on Magnesium Chloride which has been found and studied for several years, as well as used by myself, can be read in an online work and book by Mildred Seelig, PhD, now deceased — Magnesium Deficiency in the Pathogenesis of Disease. She was one of the foremost researchers on this subject. This has been shared with our RBF support group on many occasions

[Krys]

Sheri,
The herbs are described in great detail in “Healing Lyme Disease” by Stephen Harrod Buhner. I get Stephania at http://www.1stchineseherbs.com and on Amazon, wherever cheaper, wherever available at the moment. It is often available, and then it is sold out and one cannot find it anywhere for a few months. I encapsulate all the herbs myself. It’s cheaper, empowering and better absorbed (no excipents used on and in capsules).

I hope you decide to do use detox. Coffee enema is not very enticing, but all the blood gets cleaned of toxins a few times during the procedure. It could just do the trick! 2 coffee enemas in 2 days and hopefully all will be gone!!!

I’m worried. Being short of breath is scary and can easily and fast lead to worse.
Do you have any other symptoms that could suggest it is thick blood? Any symptoms of Candida? Or toxicity and thick blood….?

If detox does not help at all, please see a doc. In case it is microbial in nature, it would be scary to let it advance. If it is Candida, herbal protocol could take close to a year, whereas the pharmaceutical, a few months.
In case that is what is going on (infection or Candida) and you decided to choose the herbal path, Stephania only might not be enough. An herbal macrolide abx, or rather a combination of them, could be necessary. Or a combination of herbal antifungals.

May all the problems resolve, dissolve, disappear and stay away for good!!!
May resounding health, joy and prosperity in everything that’s good flourish!!!
Happy New Year 2013, Krys

[Valsmum]

A Friend,
Where do you recommend buying the ph test strips. I am curious to see my levels. Are your levels in good range? Thank you

[A Friend]

@Valsmum wrote:

A Friend,
Where do you recommend buying the ph test strips. I am curious to see my levels. Are your levels in good range? Thank you

Valsmum,
Several years ago when I began trying to find the testing strips, it was difficult to find them; and the ones I found I didn’t like using. One at the local health store was a tiny strip, dispensed like scotch tape, with no information. Then I remembered there was a Natures Sunshine dealer nearby, and went there. Success! They are packaged so well (with 100 test strips in a little plastic snap case). Inside the case are two cards with charts and a graph showing healthy pH ranges for a 24-hr period of time. The strips are cut/but attached at the base, and there are a number of “pages” of the strips resembling a row of attached matches. You tear one loose to use. The receptionist suggested many people use little scissors to cut the strips of each page into two strips, increasing the number you have to 200 instead of 100. The divided strip is adequate.

To use: Once the strip is moistened with saliva or urine, the acidity of the strip quickly turns to a color between light yellow and dark green. You hold the little strip up to the color chart to match the color, and the chart shows the pH number for the matching color — and this lets you know the pH of your saliva or urine at that time. Using these has been a great tool for letting me know how my body is responding to foods and supplements in my diet. I probably will always use these, because I found that even though I was eating what looked like an excellent diet, apparently the metabolic functioning going on was insufficient and needed me to help by adding more alkaline foods, drinks, buffers, etc. because my pH was found to be as acidic as the strips measured. Besides studying the Eat Right for Your Blood Type foods, and eating from those most alkaline, I learned about other things I could use to help.

Some of the most helpful things I added, which made a huge constant difference were regularly using: MagChlor90 drops each day, which I order from Pain & Stress Center lab in San Antonio. (I learned about MagChlor from Dr. Sherry Rogers’ book, Detoxify or Die.) And, later, I learned the probable reason for my high acidity was my inability to digest protein in my diet well. And, because I was so acidic, my body had used up all of its available minerals to neutralize the acidic waste and expell it throught the kidneys; and so was forced to store it in fascia and other tissues of my body, because expelling through the kidneys would have damaged them. First and foremost, to sustain life, the body will rob minerals from wherever available to keep the blood pH at an almost exact reading, because this is necessary to sustain life. Dr. Paul Cheney, a longtime Fibromyalgia physician, has done much ongoing research since the well-publicized Incline Village days. He found that nondenatured whey protein (such as the ImmunoPro brand I’ve been using for over a year) would actually address abnormal labs (such as C. pneumoniae) and bring them back to normal in 6 months when using a quality nondenatured whey protein product. This is not the type generally found in health stores. I’ve had a standing order and save on each cannister doing this. One cannister is enough for 60 days, and costs about $40. Actually, the missing amino acids in my diet from not being able to digest and extract necessary amino acids from protein, I believe was the main reason my body became so acidic in the first place. The amino acids, along with the enzymes and co-enzymes from vitamins in our food are necessary for clearing the body of waste material. With adequate amino acids, our body’s normal metabollic detoxification takes place. Without them, it cannot.

Hope this helps. Best to you.
AF

[Valsmum]

Thank you Afriend, the strips sound very promising. I think I will try them asap. I have a supplement I just bought for the first time called CALM and it is a magnesium supplemnet powder drink, I feel better when I take magnesium and vitamin c. Thanks again for explaining the strips to me I needed an explanation or a good tutorial :), that was helpful.
Happy New Year!!!

[Author]

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