Steroid therapy is the use of steroid medications, also recognized as corticosteroids, to treat lots of forms of autoimmune disease, such as myasthenia gravis, lupus, and several sclerosis, and other issues, such as asthma. Steroid drugs involve medicines like prednisone and cortisone. Corticosteroids can be prescribed to be taken orally or in other ways, such as by inhalation.
According to Western medicine, steroid medications are medically needed to treat a lot of circumstances and ailments. It is crucial not only to adhere to the suggestions of your healthcare skilled concerning steroid use, if you have decided steroid therapy is appropriate for you, but also to explore other health-related possibilities if you have second thoughts about steroid medications.
Is steroid therapy ideal for you?
Steroid medications have important effects on the metabolism of calcium and bone. Steroid therapy can outcome in severe bone loss, osteoporosis, and broken bones. High dosage of steroid medications can cause fast bone loss, up to as a lot as 15 % per year. If Testosterone Cypionate are on steroids, you are a lot more than twice as probably to have a spine fracture as compared to a person not taking steroids. Fracture risk increases as the every day doses of steroid drugs increases. The significant effect of steroid medication on bone is fractures (broken bones) that occur most generally in the spine and ribs. There are diverse prices of bone loss amongst men and women on corticosteroids. Bone loss happens most rapidly in the first six months just after beginning oral steroid medicines. Immediately after 12 months of chronic steroid use, there is a slower loss of bone. Nevertheless, it must be described that not all patients who take steroid medications experience bone loss.
Other adverse side effects of steroid medicines are elevation of blood pressure, weight acquire, decreased resistance to infection, indigestion, thinning of skin, and potential improvement of cataracts and glaucoma.
Let me relate my own practical experience with steroid therapy.
I 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) muscle tissues of the physique. The hallmark of the disease is muscle weakness, which increases in the course of periods of activity and anxiety, but improves right after periods of rest and calm. Particular muscle tissues, such as those that manage eyes and eyelid movements, facial expression, talking, 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 impacted.
Due to myasthenia gravis, I had developed ocular symptoms, such as ptosis (drooping of eyelids) and diplopia (double vision), and weak neck and limb muscle tissues. Luckily, I did not have weakness of the pharynx muscle tissues, which could trigger difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as properly as slurred speech in several circumstances of myasthenia gravis.
I was prescribed steroid medicines and had been on a steroid therapy for 3 years. In addition, I was also offered medications to deal with bone loss and other side adverse effects associated with the use of steroids.
In my case, there was some improvement, but not significant adequate to make me make a decision to continue the steroid therapy soon after three years of treatment. I had to balance the risks of steroids and the symptoms of myasthenia gravis.
My rude awakening came when I realized that my immune technique, which was the cause of the illness in the very first location, is not only an integrated network of cells that would protect me in occasions of an infection, but also a technique with lots of regulatory mechanisms that, if uncontrolled, would become my enemy rather of my buddy. Far more importantly, these steroids could handle the symptoms of myasthenia gravis, but they may well also impair my immune program with lasting effects on my all round wellness and wellness additional down the road.
I recognized that the human body has a natural mechanism for self-healing, if offered the appropriate environment. Accordingly, I took matters into my hands, and created a drastic decision to quit my steroid therapy without the need of consulting my physician (Warning: I do not ask everyone to do the exact same.) I stopped the medication very slowly and gradually. Meanwhile, I did every little thing to increase my immune method via a thorough detoxification program, and a change of diet regime. I did not acquire weight, my blood stress became normal and, most important of all, my myasthenia gravis conditions did not deteriorate. Up to this day, I nevertheless have some double vision, which I have discovered to cope with (I can nonetheless drive), but my other symptoms have disappeared. I have been off steroid therapy for far more than 1 decade currently.
Hippocrates, the father of medicine, as soon as said: “No man is a superior physician than himself, who knows his own constitution.” No one particular can decide for you what is ideal for your wellness. A medical doctor can only give suggestions, but you are the a single who makes the decision on irrespective of whether steroid therapy is correct for you. Listen to your physique.