Wow, can't believe I'm still doing this. Back in 2003, lost 70lbs and got down into onederland at 194. But keep shooting back up due to severe asthma and EVIL prednisone. Just started prednisone again yesterday and am taking it VERY LOW CARB all the way to see if this will help. I have gone from 256 to 215 since Jan 7th this year and I'm NOT stopping now. Since prednisone knocks me into the 300's for blood sugar, I will not eat more than 10g carbs (maybe 8) to help it along. I was in Atkins OWL at around 50-60g a day since I've been weight training and my muscles needed the glucose. But I'm fighting the prednisone monster tooth and nail this time.

I logged in and saw 2002 in my profile and it really depressed me. Hopefully this time I WILL WIN.

Love you all, such beautiful people!!!!

Hi there =) You can do this. It's never an easy fight, but you can absolutely do this. One day at a time.

Best of wishes!

Hi there, thanks!! I'm getting old so this better be the last time I do this lol!! I really do think I'm in it for the long haul this time, with or without the prednisone. I just can't lie down and let it take me over again. I just can't.

OMG all my son talks about is the Zombie Apocalypse lol!! That's so funny :-) I love it

My hubby and his friends too - his gaming group (ages from 20's through 50's) are always talking about features they're going to add to their "Zombie Apocalypse Compound."



I've also been here for almost 8 years, but even the "non-losing" years here have been "non-gaining" years. Most of my life, I've either been rapidly gaining, or rapidly losing, so I can't really consider the no-loss years as a total lack of progress. I still learned things that prevented me from being in the rapidly-gaining camp.

I've also been on multiple courses of prednisone, and I've found low-carb really has helped me control prednisone-hunger. On prednisone I can't eat enough to make hunger go away. Low-carb at least brings it down from constant, rabid, humongous hunger to just signifiantly more than normal hunger.

Hey that's good to know because this is the very first time I have done low carb with prednisone. It gives me hope!! I have come so far since January this year, lost my first 40 and I was so depressed about going on prednisone yet again, but I just can not let it get me this time because I'm finally seeing progress, going to the gym, even weight training. At a really good point in my life and I see onederland just around the corner, so I REALLY don't want to go backwards!

I have been on prednisone several times since 1978. The last time was from 2005 to 2009. The hunger is indescribable. I have lost 40lb in the last 4 yr. with 20 to go. I have never found a way to control the weight when on high doses.

I hear yu on Prednisone. I have sever asthma and all of last yea was horrid. I wa sin the hospital 12 times- 1 time each month to get a new prescription of prednisone when I ran out. Apparently, I'm allergic to albuterol and nothing has made my life better than Primatene mist 16 bucks at walmart it's just epniephrine. Unfortunately, I read it'll be taken off shelves this december so docs can prescribe it. And bad for me, if I don't have insurance it's back up another 30 pounds and prednisone and insomnia.

The other stuff they want to prescribe me is 2 and 300 bucks, asthma sucks.

yeah it IS expensive. I'm on Advair and I have no insurance, so I go right through the drug company and get 3 months at a time for FREE. bridgestoaccess.com the glaxo-smith-cline financial assistance web site. I also get flonase for free and Eli Lilly does it too, so if you need Lamictal or something they sell, you can get it for free right from the company. That advair is anywhere from $300-$500! I think /Eli Lilly is lillycares.com or something. Hope this helps.

oops Lamictal is also Glaxo Smith Cline.. Eli Lilly has Prozac and stuff, I don't remember

I had a doctor tell me that "prednisone doesn't lift the fork" (meaning that weight gain isn't inevitable). I wanted to poke him in the eye with a fork (and tell him prednisone did it).

I know what he was trying to say (and he does have a point, he just needed to make it in a more sensitive manner)I really think any doctor who's going to prescribe prednisone should experiience a couple months on the drug (of course with all the negative side effects that would be considered unethical).


I think you could put a dog's shock collar on me, and rig my kitchen so that I got a painful jolt every time I got near the fridge or pantry, and on prednisone, it wouldn't keep me away from the food. I'd take the shock.

Hey, that's not such a bad idea (well when I'm not on prednisone). It wouldn't stop me from getting food (it doesn't stop rats either. If you give them a shock, but give them food with the shock, they'll take the shock to reach the food, even if lower calorie, "less yummy" food is available without the shock.

So while it might not stop me, you'd bet I'd think twice before deciding I was really hungry. Except of course on prednisone. Then I'd be getting shocked every 20 minutes.


As for inexpensive asthma drugs, you can also check the pharmacies' $4 list. There aren't many, but I wasn't eligible for any of the free medications, because they won't accept anyone with any kind of drug coverage, even if it's poor drug coverage. My medicare part D plan didn't cover enough for me to afford Advair on a regular basis or my other asthma medications (Singulair I believe and a rescue inhaler). Luckily I learned that NSAIDS were causing most of my breathing difficulties (I'd been diagnosed with asthma, copd, and an autoimmune disease attacking my lungs, joints, and sinus/nose cartilage). Now, I'm only on the rescue enhaler and don't have to use it more than a few times a year (knock on wood).

I still end up being prescribed prednisone and Advair occasionally (if I get bronchitis or pneumonia), but I don't have to take daily asthma or allergy meds any more (thank goodness).

What annoys me is that the NSAIDS may have actually contributed to the asthma and the autoimmune disease. It's a well-known potential side effect, but no doctor ever suggested to me that we try a non-nsaid arthritis med. They just upped my nsaid as the pain got worse, and upped my asthma medications as my lungs got worse. Within three months of being off the nsaids it was almost like I had no asthma at all, except during the coldest parts of winter, allergy season, and if I get overheated during exercise.

Even during allergy season, I take 1/4 the dose of Allegra that I once used daily all year round, and now only have to take for a couple weeks in spring and fall.

It peeves me that I probably could have saved myself 20 years asthma and allergy medications and lung damage (there's scarring on my lungs) and maybe even the autoimmune disease altogheter if I had known that I was having a reaction to the NSAIDs.

hmmmm my medicare kicks in in August and I have been tossing around the idea of even taking part D because it's cheaper to not have any insurance as you say. Even my doctocr's visists are only $15 and am waiting to hear about financial assistance from the hospital and medicaid - but When I get medicare, I'll have that $115/mo premium PLUS deductables PLUS co-pays and will lose all free stuff. What happened to all that money Medicare took out of my paycheck for all those years? It's much cheaper to have nothing and get help directly... I wonder if I can deny Medicare B from even kicking in? Or do I HAVE to take it if its offered?

Just to be clear, I did NOT say that having no insurance is cheaper. Not at all. It is true that if you have any insurance, you're not eligible for most of the assistance programs the drug companies offer. However if you do not have insurance, you have no guarantee that you'll get the help you need. The drug companies MAY help you out, if you have no insurance, but they're not obligated to help. That's one heck of a big "maybe", especially since they don't help with every drug, generally just the newest ones (because it's good PR and advertising for the drug. If there's a generic version of the drug, they generally don't help with the cost at all).

The same is true of assistance programs from hospitals and state medicaid programs. You may be eligible for programs, you may not. And even if you're eligible, it doesn't mean you'll get it. Many assistance programs are on a "first come first serve, until the money runs out" basis, which means that at the end of the year, you can be SOL. Income limits also apply. For example, our income (even though it's primarily SSDI income and a small disability pension my husband had from his employer), is just a smidge too high to be eligible for any of the assistance programs. If we turned down medicare, we still would not be eligible for any of the assistance programs.


That certainly isn't true in our area. Unless you're in amazing health and are extremely lucky, the medicare (even with the premium) is still far cheaper than having no insurance coverage.

Also, in many areas there can be the matter of even getting any care except emergency care without insurance. I know in many of the places I've lived, finding a health care provider willing to accept a patient without insurance is iffy at best. In central Illinois for example, when I was a probation officer, I had excellent insurance myself, but it was my job to help probationers and their families find medical care, and without insurance it was nearly impossible. And the doctors who did take uninsured patients had waiting lists 6 to 9 months long.

A Social Security Administration caseworker should be able to tell you whether you can turn down medicare, and what the advantages and disadvantages would be (because the caseworkers will know the programs available in your community), but I'd thoroughly check it out before assuming that it would be cheaper to have nothing.