Prednisone Withdrawal

Prednisone

Prednisone is a steroid drug of class corticosteroids used to treat ulcerative colitis, some types of arthritis, disorders related to blood, skin, kidney, eyes etc., allergies, migraine headache, asthma and Crohn’s Diseases because of its anti-inflammation properties. Prednisone is used as a replacement of cortisol (a steroid produced by adrenal gland in our body) when adrenal gland fails to produce enough hormone required for our body. Prednisone provides relief in treatment of most of the diseases those involve internal inflammation such as inflammation of digestive tract in Crohn’s Disease, severe poison ivy dermatitis, severe asthma, systemic lupus erythematosus and infected area in ulcerative colitis, etc.

Prednisone is primarily a steroid and does affect our health in positive as well as negative manner. If you are taking dosage of prednisone, you should keep enough information noted with you (you can obtain a card that gives all the information your doctor will need about a medicine you are taking before he/she prescribes you any other medicine) in order to make it available to doctors if you are about to change or in case its an emergency.

The side effects of prednisone include:
1) Unpredictable effect (stress, well-being, anxiety, depression, restlessness, etc.) on mood. People who are suffering from mental illness or those who are having weak mental health are at highest risk of experiencing mood swings.
2) Dizziness, vomiting and insomnia
3) Acne
4) Steroid also causes chemical imbalance in our body and changes sugar level in blood, along with change in other chemicals such as calcium, potassium, water, etc.
5) Increased hunger and weight gain
6) Weakened healing ability of body and increased susceptibility towards infections: steroids affect the healing mechanism, which leads to a slowdown in healing ability of the body.
7) Swollen breasts due to deposition of fat
8) High dosages of steroids (or even a smallest dose of steroid for those whose body/metabolism does not support steroid at all) may lead to problems related to menstrual cycles in women patients. They may experience irregularity in menstrual cycle occurrence or no menstrual cycle occurrence at all.
9) In many cases, people undergoing steroid related treatment complain about eye-related problems such as increased pressure of fluid within the eyeballs which is also known as intra-ocular fluid pressure, wearing of outer cover of the eye (the outer cover becomes thin and susceptible for various eye related infections) and some people complain about development of cataract in their eye, etc.
10) Steroid may also interfere with the other medicines that the patient is taking and cause serious trouble for him/her. For example, if a person is undergoing heart, brain or any vital organ related medication, then steroid can lead to a medical condition such as increased blood pressure. Some problems in the patient may increase due to the use of steroid and other medications at the same time. People undergoing treatment for inflammation may face stomach and digestive system related problems if they start taking steroids.

Prednisone withdrawal

As mentioned above, prednisone being a steroid, has positive as well as negative effects on our body. Along with it, it also affects our body/metabolism if the dosage of prednisone is suddenly stopped which includes sudden depression, effect on metabolism, impaired growth, etc. Prednisone withdrawal should be done gradually and under strict observation of an experienced and expert doctor as it involves various problems, if not done carefully.

If you are undergoing a treatment that involves dosages of prednisone, you should be careful not to withdraw the dosage suddenly. Once we start taking prednisone dosages, our body reduces/stops production of cortisol depending upon prednisone volume. If the dosages are stopped suddenly, it can be fatal for the health as there is no production of cortisol in the body and the external supplement is also stopped. This condition is also known as Addisonian Crisis or Adrenal Crisis. Prednisone withdrawal should be gradual which will help the body start producing cortisol required for various functions in the body.

Prednisone withdrawal in children should be monitored carefully. Sudden withdrawal can lead to no cortisol production in the body affecting growth of the child, which may result in delay in puberty in future.

Your doctor may monitor the effects of prednisone withdrawal on your body and suggest you to follow a particular procedure (such as gradual decrease in prednisone dosages by certain amount), alter your diet and suggest you to do some exercises, etc. The process of decreasing the dosage will be very slow if you have undergone the prednisone treatment for a long period (a year or more), as compared to a short-term course of prednisone. This will involve decreasing dosages by a very small amount, taking prednisone dose on alternate days, etc, so that the adrenal gland in your body starts producing cortisol on its own.