Anyone ever prescribed steroids for breathing problems?

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Recently I got bronchitis and breathing difficulties landed me in the ER. I was sent home with scripts for antibiotics, an inhaler, and steroids. I do not recall ever being given steroids for bronchitis before. I tend to be sensitive to medications in general and am prone to severe side effects. I was kinda worried about it, but so far all I seem to have going on is insomnia and a somewhat manic state, and not wanting food. I will gladly take this over not being able to breathe... though the not being able to sleep coupled with all of this energy is uncomfortable. I have two more days left to take the stuff, then I am done.

I was wondering if anyone here has ever been given steroids on a short term basis and had this kind of thing happen. I'm wondering how long this is going to last... if it continues on for a few days after the doses are out or if it tapers before or anything really. Also curious if there are any tips or tricks for lessening the impact of this. I'm not feeling well enough to go exercise or run or something to get the energy out and have no idea what to do with myself lately.

I've heard of steroid pills & shots being given for asthma. Inhalers are steroids.

I've been given steroids for skin eczema problems before by shots as well as pills. I have a hard time sleeping the 1st couple nights after being given a shot. The pills I've been given started at a high dose & I slowly tapered down for like a week to 10 days. I started not sleeping as well or at all when I had afew days left but started sleeping better rite before I ran out. I sometimes take Prednisone pills nowadays for a short while & I don't notice any real side-effects.

Last edited by nick007 on 20 Aug 2016, 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Been there
Got the t shirt
I have asthma
This year have been relatively good in the lung area.
Not so in the past.

Biggest incident led to the hypo to middle of my chest at an E. R.

Other were those that led to the prednisone packs.
Breathing over rules side effects.

If I get them after noon I defer starting prednisone till the next day.
Yes earlier is better.

Some inhalers are steroids and some are not. "Rescue inhalers" (like Ventolin) are not steroids.

Once when I had either pneumonia or severe bronchitis (I can't remember the diagnosis anymore, just the experience) I had to use a steroid inhaler for weeks, but I never had any side effects from it.

Thank you all for responding. The inhaler they gave me is not a steroid one. I had to check. Did not know that some were and others were not. I thought none of them were. Learn something new everyday, eh? I am not often given inhalers, just one every other year or so with bronchitis. The only steroid script I got was the prednisone pills. Thankfully my last dose was taken this morning.

I took the pills yesterday around something like 5am (with no food) and slept better last night than I have since I have been on the things. Agreed, earlier does seem to be better with them. The instructions said to take before 9am with food/milk, but it's hard for me to eat too early in the morning so I was taking them between 7am and 8 am with food... if I ever have to take these again I am sooooo going with 5am no food. Heh. They did not bother my stomach much anyway. Though that is perhaps difficult to gauge due to antibiotics which always wreck my stomach.

Last night was an okay sleep comparatively, and hopefully tonight will be better and so on. Still, I will gladly take little sleep/excess energy and being able to breathe.

What dose of Prednisone were you prescribed dossa I take mine with lunch & i don't notice any real side-effects so I have a feeling you take a higher dose than me. I usually take 20mg every other day for a few weeks to a month & it helps my skin eczema & allergies but it takes abit before I notice anything.

I was taking 20mg daily (took the last dose this morning... yay!). I'm not sure if that is a high or low dose, but I generally have severe side effects to anything I take, even smalll doses of things. I have a hard time with psych meds, pain meds, anything really. I try to not take stuff like tylenol if I can help it. I was pleasantly surprised that the only real impact of the prednisone was the whole too much energy not enough sleep thing coupled with decreased appetite. I spoke with my spouse at the start of the pills, asking him to keep an eye on me in case I started acting crazier than normal I was bracing for anger like reactions because one of the listed side effects is mood disturbances if you have had issues with severe mood episodes or psychotic episodes and I have had those in the past. Luckily I had no mood disturbances beyond acting a bit hyper/manic.

My breathing is great these days.
In the past I've been on 60 a day.

Weight and exercise have helped.
I started exercising walking to 3 houses past our mailbox.