Hey,
I'm pretty new to this forum but my asthma's being getting worse lately and its scaring me.
Went to the doctors today and she upped my steroid inhaler and gave me a course of pred for if its gets any worse. Thing is I heard pred can cause a lot of bad reactions. any truth in this/ advice?
thanks xx
Short courses of steroids are fine so please don't worry about taking them. Prolonged courses (in my case month after month) do lead to side effects, but in my experience doctors are much more aware of them now, and advise accordingly. Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.
your better off taking them and getting better faster than do what i do which is read the label get scared and take them a week later, get really bad and then take the preds plus antibiotics at the same time.
they are fine just drink loads of water with it helps me to prevent any stomach irratation.
If ur concerned about side effects. discuss this with the practice nurse or gp who will tell u what to expect so you can decide wether to take them or not. But the the risk of not taking them are ur asthma gets worse, u run the risk of an asthma attack and hospital admission or worse.
Hi I've been on pred twice since March. middle of march to end of April, 2 weeks off and back on pred. I put on weight (9lb)but have dieted and lost it all just in time to go back on it! I've not noticed as many side affects this time round yet. Went to hospital to start treatment for another condition today. supposed to go weekly but couldn't start it coz of pred, he and the nurse were worried it will make me seriously ill but my consultant wants me referred to a chest specialist, so got to see my doc to get it sorted. So some good has come out of it! It's best to be on pred and try help your condition, I know it's so frustrating, I've got to go back on antibiotics again today so will feel doubly yuck.
Good luck, hope you feel better soon
hello tired, i used to write prescribing information for a living and if you read the side effects sections of any drug labels you'd run a mile!! the thing to think about with pred is that it is an extremely widely prescribed drug and has been used for a long time and that mean that a lot is known about the drug. which is a good thing for clinicians, as they have more confidence when prescribing. This is a very good website for checking up on drugs medicines.org.uk/emc/ it has the most up to date labels, SPCs (the bit the docs read) and PILs (the bit we get in our packets of pills). All PILs will eventually have the incidence of side effects on them, so if you check on there it might give you an idea of which side effects are the most common etc. Hope that helps!
thanks for all the replies guys. I have a shiny new peak flow monitor now and have promised myself I'll take the pred if my readings get worse. Im just good at worrying and not so good at managing my asthma. I had four glorious years of no symptoms and so i am reluctant to admit its back.
Guess it is best to breathe especially with exams coming up.
Managed a walk in the woods today so things are looking better 
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