Steroid therapy is the use of steroid medications, also known as corticosteroids, to treat lots of varieties of autoimmune disease, including myasthenia gravis, lupus, and numerous sclerosis, and other disorders, such as asthma. Steroid medications include medicines like prednisone and cortisone. Corticosteroids can be prescribed to be taken orally or in other strategies, such as by inhalation.
According to Western medicine, steroid medications are medically important to treat numerous circumstances and ailments. It is essential not only to comply with the recommendations of your healthcare skilled concerning steroid use, if you have decided steroid therapy is correct for you, but also to discover other medical selections if you have second thoughts about steroid drugs.
Is steroid therapy right for you?
Steroid medications have big effects on the metabolism of calcium and bone. Steroid therapy can outcome in severe bone loss, osteoporosis, and broken bones. High dosage of steroid medicines can trigger rapid bone loss, up to as substantially as 15 % per year. If you are on steroids, you are additional than twice as likely to have a spine fracture as compared to a person not taking steroids. Fracture risk increases as the each day doses of steroid medications increases. The major influence of steroid medication on bone is fractures (broken bones) that take place most usually in the spine and ribs. There are different rates of bone loss among people on corticosteroids. Bone loss occurs most swiftly in the first six months following beginning oral steroid medications. Right after 12 months of chronic steroid use, there is a slower loss of bone. Nevertheless, it should be talked about that not all sufferers who take steroid drugs knowledge bone loss.
Other adverse side effects of steroid drugs are elevation of blood stress, weight achieve, decreased resistance to infection, indigestion, thinning of skin, and possible development of cataracts and glaucoma.
Let me relate my personal expertise with steroid therapy.
equipoise bodybuilding was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis quite a few years ago. Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the physique. The hallmark of the disease is muscle weakness, which increases through periods of activity and anxiety, but improves following periods of rest and calm. Certain muscle tissues, such as these that handle eyes and eyelid movements, facial expression, speaking, chewing and swallowing are frequently involved in this disorder. In addition, the muscle tissues that manage breathing, neck, and limb movements may perhaps also be affected.
Due to myasthenia gravis, I had developed ocular symptoms, such as ptosis (drooping of eyelids) and diplopia (double vision), and weak neck and limb muscles. Fortunately, I did not have weakness of the pharynx muscles, which could lead to difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as well as slurred speech in many instances of myasthenia gravis.
I was prescribed steroid medicines and had been on a steroid therapy for 3 years. In addition, I was also given medications to deal with bone loss and other side adverse effects related with the use of steroids.
In my case, there was some improvement, but not considerable enough to make me decide to continue the steroid therapy immediately after three years of remedy. I had to balance the risks of steroids and the symptoms of myasthenia gravis.
My rude awakening came when I realized that my immune program, which was the lead to of the disease in the very first place, is not only an integrated network of cells that would protect me in times of an infection, but also a program with a lot of regulatory mechanisms that, if uncontrolled, would develop into my enemy as an alternative of my friend. Far more importantly, these steroids may possibly manage the symptoms of myasthenia gravis, but they may perhaps also impair my immune program with lasting effects on my overall wellness and wellness further down the road.
I recognized that the human physique has a natural mechanism for self-healing, if offered the proper environment. Accordingly, I took matters into my hands, and made a drastic decision to stop my steroid therapy devoid of consulting my physician (Warning: I do not ask anyone to do the identical.) I stopped the medication extremely slowly and progressively. Meanwhile, I did anything to improve my immune program via a thorough detoxification plan, and a adjust of diet plan. I did not achieve weight, my blood stress became regular and, most essential of all, my myasthenia gravis situations did not deteriorate. Up to this day, I nevertheless have some double vision, which I have learned to cope with (I can nonetheless drive), but my other symptoms have disappeared. I have been off steroid therapy for extra than a single decade already.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, after said: “No man is a improved physician than himself, who knows his own constitution.” No a single can determine for you what is best for your health. A physician can only give suggestions, but you are the a single who tends to make the choice on whether or not steroid therapy is right for you. Listen to your body.