Medical Management

• Steroids such as Prednisone, Beclovent, cortisone are strong anti-inflammatory drugs
• Used to control severe inflammatory conditions such as severe asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, viral hepatitis, ileitis/colitis, and severe skin allergic reactions
• Administered by oral, inhalation, topical, IV, IM, intra-articular routes
• Many adverse reactions (only used if absolutely needed)
• Long term (more than 2 weeks), high dose (more than 20 mg daily) steroid use causes adrenal suppression
• Extra steroids must be taken if under severe physiological or psychological stress
• When no longer needed, steroid drug doses must be gradually decreased (over a period of weeks) rather than abruptly stopped