Your physician will take your age and risk factors into account when deciding which vaccinations you need. Shingles vaccination (Shingrix®) may also be considered.
If you are on steroids for a prolonged period of time, you should also discuss with your doctor the possibility of getting “Pneumovax,” a vaccination against a certain type of pneumonia as well as “Prevnar 13,” another pneumonia vaccine.
Since steroids can decrease your immunity to infection, you should have a yearly flu shot as long as you are on steroids. Long-term steroids can suppress the protective role of your immune system and increase your risk of infection. When used for less than two weeks, more rapid tapering of steroids is generally possible. Note that even if you are having a steroid side effect, however, steroids still must be tapered slowly. On each visit, discuss with the physician whether it is possible to decrease your steroid dose. Your physician will work with you to continually try to taper your steroid dose, at a safe rate of decrease, depending on how you are doing. If you get symptoms like these when you taper your steroids, discuss them with the doctor. Because of this, make sure your doctors always know if you have been treated with steroids in the past, especially in the past year, so they can be on the alert for the development of adrenal insufficiency at times such as a surgical procedure. Sometimes this can be set off by injuries or a surgical procedure. This can cause symptoms and health problems such as drops in blood pressure, as well as chemical changes in the blood such as high potassium or low sodium. Even with slower withdrawal of steroids, some of these symptoms are possible, but usually in milder forms.Īt times, rapid withdrawal of steroids can lead to a more severe syndrome of adrenal insufficiency. These symptoms could be hard to separate from those of your underlying disease. Rapid withdrawal of steroids may cause a syndrome that could include fatigue, joint pain, muscle stiffness, muscle tenderness, or fever. The adrenal gland itself can also show some suppression of its ability to make cortisol. For example, the pituitary gland production of ACTH (which stimulate the adrenal to make cortisol) can be inhibited. Taking these anti-inflammatory steroids can suppress the hypothalamus, as well as the pituitary gland, which are all involved the process of stimulating the adrenal gland to make cortisol. Taking anti-inflammatory steroids can lead to inhibition of the complex pathway that leads to our body’s production of anti-inflammatory steroid hormone (cortisol). When anti-inflammatory steroids have been taken for some time and then are rapidly withdrawn, our adrenal gland (which makes our body’s steroid hormones) can be sluggish in making our own steroid hormone. Your physician or surgeon may not feel you need to take the extra steroid at the time of surgery, but if they know you have been on corticosteroids they can watch you more carefully after surgery. Discuss this possibility with the surgeon or dentist, etc. This could be needed for as long as a year after you have stopped steroids. A higher dose of steroid may be needed at times of major stress, such as surgery or very extensive dental work or serious infection. Steroid use for over two weeks can decrease the ability of your body to respond to physical stress. Increased doses needed for physical stress 
However, taking care of yourself as discussed below may reduce the risks. With long-term use, corticosteroids can result in any of the following side effects. What are the side effects of corticosteroids? The information below does not refer to muscle-building or “androgenic” steroids (such as testosterone), which share some chemical similarities but function quite differently than anti-inflammatory steroids. Note on which “steroids” are we talking about: The term “steroids” here refers to anti-inflammatory steroids (corticosteroids) such as prednisone and methylprednisolone (Medrol®) and dexamethasone (Decadron®). If any of the suggestions here is unclear, or seems irrelevant to you, please discuss it with your physician. Please also remember that steroids are often extremely effective and can be life-saving. However, please be reassured that many people take steroids with minor or no side effects. You should be well aware of the risks before starting these medications. Reading about these side effects may make you uncomfortable about taking steroids. If your dose is low, your risk of serious side effect is quite small, especially if precautions, as discussed below, are taken. Note also that the side effects of steroids very much depend on the dose and how long they are taken.
SIDE EFFECT OF PREDNISONE HOW TO
How to think about the suggestions below: Any suggestion here which is not clear or which you think may not apply to you should be discussed with the your physician.
0 kommentar(er)
