Prednisone Withdrawal

Prednisone is a steroid drug belonging to the class of 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-inflammatory properties. Prednisone is used as a replacement for 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 to most of the diseases that 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 a positive as well as negative way. If you are taking a dose of prednisone, you should keep enough information noted with you (you can get 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) to make it available to doctors if you are about to change or if it is an emergency.

The side effects of prednisone include:

• Unpredictable effect (stress, well-being, anxiety, depression, restlessness, etc.) on mood is experienced. People who are suffering from mental illness or those who are having weak mental health are at the highest risk of experiencing mood swings.
• Dizziness, vomiting and insomnia are other side effects.
• Acne occurs due to prednisone intake.
• Steroid also causes chemical imbalance in our body and changes sugar levels in blood, along with change in other chemicals such as calcium, potassium, water, etc.
• Increased hunger and weight gain is another side effect.
• Weakened healing ability of body and increased susceptibility towards infections is often seen. Steroids affect the healing mechanism, which leads to a slowdown in healing ability of the body.
• Swollen breasts occur due to deposition of fat.
• 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.
• People undergoing steroid related treatment complain about eye problems such as increased pressure of fluid within the eyeballs, wearing away of outer cover of the eye and development of cataract in their eye, etc.
• 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 the 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.

How Should Prednisone Withdrawal be Done

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 to 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 the growth of the child, which may result in delay in puberty in the 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.