Prednisone Side Effects Explained: What Every Patient Must Know

Introduction to Prednisone 0:00

Prednisone or any other form of corticosteroids could be a lifesaver for many of you who are dealing with autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis. But it could also be silent killer if you don't adequately use this medication. Today I'll go over a little more detail on what is a corticosteroid or steroid, how to effectively use them and what are the side effects we need to watch out for and how My marketing team had told me that many of you, almost 90% of who are watching this video have not subscribed to our channel yet.

When you subscribe to our channel, it helps reach out to many patients who are struggling. Those patients, who were confused and scared about prednisone. When your subscribed, It helps those patients. Please subscribe and ring that bell to get an alert when we upload new videos. Let's start with the basic. Lets first understand what is a steroid or what prednison? Many of you might have heard about cortisol. which is a natural hormone that your body typically makes to help function our body.

How Corticosteroids Work 1:22

That cortisol, if it is in the synthetic form, we call that corticosteroids. So basically, you can think of prednisone or other cortico-steroid as a synthetic of cortisol. And cortisol is vital hormone in our bodies. It is important in maintaining a lot of bodily function, which includes maintaining your blood pressure, maintaining electrolytes in your body and also a lot of other daily cellular functions. Hence, cortisol is an important part of the hormone in our body. It also has some important immune function.

That is how we use the prednisone in autoimmune conditions. Prednisone is a synthetic form of cortisol that is typically used to control inflammation due to many rheumatic diseases. If you remember, many of our autoimmune disease, the primary problem is an active or overactive immune system that's causing inflammation and damage to different organs. Depending on the disease it could be rheu metered arthritis where the damage is happening in the joint. If it is lupus, the damage is in the organs such as skin, lungs, and even the kidneys.

So by using these synthetic cortisol in form of prednisone or methylprednisolone, we can calm down the hyperactive immune system. This is like putting out the fire of inflammation. That's how typically these corticosteroids function by decreasing or suppressing your immune system that is hyperactive. And the good part about Trenzone is it's highly effective and highly potent medication.

Why Prednisone Can Be a Lifesaver 3:11

It can help calm down the inflammation very fast. The advantage is, it can minimize damage to your organs. Particularly in the early phase of your diseases, where there is severe inflammation which can potentially lead to damage to those organs. So by using a steroid we can quickly calm down the immune system so that the system does not attack and damage those organ. so it has very important role and sometimes it could be a lifesaver medication for some of those severe autoimmune diseases such as kidney lupus or vasculitis which is a very severe form of auto immune disease where your immune system attack your lungs causing breathing problem low oxygen level so for those cases prednisone is alive saver drug Now as I discussed earlier in the beginning it is a lifesaver drug but if not adequately used or monitored it can be a silent killer.

Particularly long-term use of medication like prednisone or any other form of steroid can have detrimental effect to your overall health causing a lot of problems. And that is what I'll be talking about next. What are those side effects we need to watch out for? So many of you who are watching this video, if you have not subscribed yet, please subscribe to our channel.

Major Side Effects to Watch For 4:34

It will help increase the outreach to other patients who're suffering from many rheumatic diseases. You could help them find these type of videos. And also don't forget to download the free copy of the book as well as the recipe of a smoothie that you can use to fight inflammation so that don t need to go to prednisone. As we discussed earlier the synthetic form of cortisol, the prednisone has multiple function in our body and likewise it also has the multiple side effects throughout our bodies.

So I'll try to organize them into different organ system and first let me help you understand those side-effects. Let's start with the side effect number one that is weight gain and fluid retention. Pregnation or any other form of corticosteroids are known to cause weight gain by two mechanisms. One fluid retention and other one is extra weight gained. In case of fluid retension, the prednisone or other forms of steroid causes fluid tension through your kidneys. you will have extra weight due to fluids.

This is easy to manage. When you try to come off of the steroids slowly, you'll also be able to lose that extra due fluid retention. But the other side effect, the extra gain that you have got, it takes sometimes longer. Hence, you need to be mindful of things that you NEED to do while you are taking Prednisone to minimize this extra weight gain. To minimize these side effects of extra weights, just be careful how much salt you're taking. As you know, if you take excess salt, salt usually comes with water and that causes fluid retention in your body, causing that excess weight gains.

The other side. the excess weight that you gain is due to consumption of extra carbohydrate or sugar. Now unfortunately prednisone or any other form of steroids do increase your appetite particularly for high sugary diets such as chocolates ice cream and others. So you need to be very, very mindful of what you are eating when you're taking Prednisone or any other form of steroids. So always watch out what are you eating and when are taking prednisones.

Managing Weight, Mood, and Sleep 6:49

That can help you minimize weight gain and also help lose weight if you have already gained a lot of weight during the course of Prednison use. The other strategy that you can use to manage your weight is exercise or movement. Exercise or any other form of physical activity help you maintain good weight and also help You lose some extra weight, but be careful not to do excessive exercise such as going for a marathon. So you should not be going to marathon when you are taking Krennisone. Always do the gentle exercise and movement that can help.

You maintain your healthy weight. And also helps you lose weight the side effect number two mood and sleep changes. Most important one are the side effects of mood changes and sleep problem. Typically, if you have underlying problem with sleep, it can make it worse. If you underlying anxiety or depression, you can also make worse, so you need to be mindful of these side-effects and effectively communicate to your healthcare providers. There are some strategies that can help you minimize the sleep problem with prednisone.

And these are, some of these strategies. The number one being, take your predisone in the morning. Normally, our body does make cortisol, typically with a peak in early morning, so when you take predison at the same time, you may have less problem, with the sleeping issues with your Prednisones. The other side effect, the stress and the depression problem. If you have those underlying problems, always communicate with your doctors on how you best handle those. So managing your stress can also help you minimize stress that comes with the prednisone.

Communicate effectively with you your rheumatologist and your primary care doctor. The side-effect number three, bone health. The third most important side effects we need to watch out is weakness in your bones which could be severe causing osteoporosis and osteonecrosis which

Protecting Bones and Preventing Infection 8:40

is basically death of the bones, which can be very severe side effect. And here are some strategies that you can use to minimize those side-effects. Take adequate amount of calcium and vitamin D while you are taking prednisone. Regular exercise also strengthen your bone and when you are taking prednisone for long term, always ask your doctor for taking all the medication that can protect your bones, such as Fosamax, which is a medication which can be taken to prevent osteoporosis while you're taking the predisone.

ask your rheumatologist on those strategies. So the side effect number four, the infection risk. Your rheumeatologists need to be very carefully monitoring for any infection. If you have any signs of infection, always communicate with them effectively. And getting vaccine is one of the way of minimizing the risk of infections. Now, side-effect number five, gut health. Corticosteroids are also known to cause gastric irritation causing gastritis. In particular, if you are taking with other medications such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory.

So, If you're taking steroids, don't take nonstereoidal antiinflammatories together. That can cause Gastritis symptoms. And here are some other strategies you can do to minimize gastritis. So take corticosteroid with meal, and also you add anti-acid medications, which you find over the counter. But consult with your rheumatologist if you have history of gastitis.

Stomach, Blood Sugar, and Eye Risks 10:11

You can also list some of the other side effects that can come with pregnancy that includes increased blood sugar. If you have underlying diabetes, your risk of high blood sugars is much much higher. So if you are on steroids, always consult with your primary care doctor on how you best manage your bloodsugar and then also make some strategy on you can manage diabetes if have it. There are a few other eye related side effects that are also common with prednisone that includes early cataract and even worsening of your glaucoma, which is high pressure in your eyes.

So if you have those conditions, always check with your eye doctor and understand what are the strategies you can do to minimize these side-effects. Now let me also quickly go over one key idea in prednisone that is a tapering strategy. It depends on what type of disease you have and what is the reason you are taking the corticosteroid or prednisone. Always check with your rheumatologist what are the expected duration of prednosone use so that they can help you create your expectations and also timeline on when you can safely come off of the prednasone because the most important thing is you cannot just come off of the prednisone.

It can cause other medical problems. So always check with your rheumatologist. What is a safe way to come up of a predisone and have that treatment plan even before you start prednison? It is always good to ask a rheumeatologists.

Tapering Off Prednisone Safely 11:34

what is the safety strategy? What's the strategy on how to calm off the Prednisones so that you have a treatment planned? And the main reason why you need to slowly taper your Prednisson is to minimize adenal insufficiency. If you are on prednisone for a long time, typically your body is not making cortisol. That's why you may go into adenal insufficiency if you suddenly stop the prednison. To minimize the adeno insuficiency, you need to slowly taper down your predniison when you're taking for long period of time.

So, always consult with your rheumatologist if you are worried about the side effects and you're thinking about coming off of the steroid. Now, let me conclude on what we talked today. We talked about what is Prendiceone, which is a powerful anti-inflammatory immunosuppressive medication, a synthetic form of cortisol. It is typically used in multiple autoimmune conditions, including rheuropathy, and your Rheumotologist will help you guide what's the right dose and what the length of use of Prenticeones is, depending on your disease.

So they will also help you your rheumatology will help, you guide on setting the right expectations and also planning on when you can come off of the steroid. If you have any questions related with the steroids, please add them in the comment below and I'll try my best to answer those questions. Thank you so much for your time. We are here to support you to fight against all of these autoimmune diseases, particularly rheomatoid arthritis. Please subscribe to our channel for similar content like this and thank you again for you attention.

I will see you in next video. Bye bye.