Struggling with the Side effects of prednisone 40mg

[Soph76]

I've been on 40mg of prednisone for a month due to Sjogrens now attacking my kidneys and losing half my kidney function at present.
I'm having really bad mood swings from complete Mania/hyperactivity to crying my eyes out and feeling low, it seems to change minute by minute.....
I'm also wide awake at night, having to take a sleeping tablet and only managing 5hrs sleep, underneath it all I'm exhausted...
My Nephrologist has reduced it to 30 mg whilst I try a different drug as we need to improve my kidney function but I'm really struggling to function..
Any thoughts, hints ideas gladly received (I do take prednisone first thing in the morning)
Thank you

[warmwaters]

Not sure what to suggest, but I'll say that I recognize some of the symptoms. For me, prednisone is a wild ride too.

I suppose one group of ideas is that all the things usually suggested for insomnia might apply, making sure where you are sleeping is dark, and comfortable, and so on, but, that's putting out a fire with a coffee cup.

When I'm on prednisone, I do talk with my family about how I'm feeling so that they understand that the irritability and weepiness isn't about what's going between us, it's me riding the wild roller coaster of prednisone.

I do try to do activities I find calming in the evening, like a hot bath (hence my screen name),  or watching PBS style tv (i.e documentaries or drama rather than action stuff). I'm not saying this really solves much, just some of the coping mechanisms.

I've certain been through the "stay up on prednisone for 3 days" and the crash sure wasn't pretty!

[irish]

I would advise you to see a psychiatrist to get assessed and probably get medication to keep you more stable during this time. The prednisone is to help preserve your kidney function and is something that needs to  be done. The side effects of the prednisone affect our emotional status and this needs to be addressed. I am amazed that your doctor has not referred you to a psychiatrist to help you through this rough patch.

I suffer from depression for years and when I am on higher dose prednisone/solumedrol I call my psychiatrist and inform him and he adjusts my meds to get me through the higher dose steroids. This is not an unusual situation at all. I hope you can get a referral from your doctor to a psychiatrist so that you can get on meds to keep you from falling apart mentally. Good luck. Irish

[Soph76]

Thanks for the responses....
I am being tapered so hopefully this will improve... but I know this will take a while... I have discussed calming meds but due to the issue with my kidneys they've not advised at the moment. My priority is to get my kidney levels down... so I want to stay focussed on that all though at times it is a struggle....
I'm hoping that my levels stay stable and don't climb again otherwise they will make me up the dose!! I think it will take a while for the Azathioprine to kick in.
I've been having a lot of blurred vision as well I've told my specialist this and he is referring me to an ophthalmologist. But again it's all worrying...   
I feel so overload at the moment it's only been 4 weeks since the diagnosis of chronic kidney disease due to my Sjogrens... let alone the problems with the meds...
any advice would be welcome