Overuse of Steroid Medications Can Increase Risk of Certain Infections

[Amy_Lee]

Very good read!

healthline.com/health-news/...

[helixhelix]

That’s why taking steroids puts you in a high risk category for Covid. And why doctors like to keep you on the lowest dose for the shortest time, sadly with PMR there is no other option. Devil drugs....

[Amy_Lee in reply to helixhelix]

Ya, there is no other option. However, having said that, my rheumy really gave me very low dose so much so that it didn’t seem to help me at all. May be if without it, it would be worse? I don’t know really.

[helixhelix in reply to Amy_Lee]

Do you have PMR as well as RA? That’s really bad luck!

[Amy_Lee in reply to helixhelix]

I am lucky that I do not have PMR but thyroid. I had removed 2/3 of my thyroid and a year later I had RA. Somehow I notice that many RA patients do have thyroid issue.

[Lolabridge]

An interesting article but sadly many of us have to take steroids until our RA is controlled well with the right drugs that work for us. It has taken me nearly two and a half years to get to that stage and where I am managing to taper the dose with the aim of getting off completely. I have got down to4mg daily this week and no I’ll effects so far. 🤞🏻

[Amy_Lee in reply to Lolabridge]

According to the article, we should do it slowly to avoid any complication in our body. I was lucky that my rheumy prescribed a very small dose (2.5 mg) for me those days. I personally felt that it did not help me at all seriously.

I was lucky that mtx kicked in about 6 months later and my rheumy told me to slowly taper it off. It took me less than 2 months to stop it totally though. My RA was not in control yet when mtx kicked in but I was already told to stop it. Mtx continued to work on me and I have been in remission after 1 1/2 year of mtx. But my RA was in good control after about a year of mtx though.

[Lolabridge in reply to Amy_Lee]

My RA was very aggressive but I had severe adverse reactions to all three traditional DMARDS and we only got my RA under control with my second biologic drug. Unfortunately that took a long time and I had to take Prednisolone. Without it I would have been incapacitated and unable to live independently. My Rheumy has warned me I may not be able to get off it completely but I’m going to have a darn good try. One mg per month is all I’m allowed to reduce by and I’m sticking to his advice of course.

[Amy_Lee in reply to Lolabridge]

I took the same steroid too. May I know how much you took max please? I am just very curious as I did not find it helpful to me at all.

Agree with you, just slowly stop it regardless of how long. As least you try and reduce it that will also reduce further harm to your body.

Seriously, I am very sorry to know that you have to suffer for so many years. As for my case, after a year of mtx, my RA was in good control already. But my rheumy said she would like to monitor for few more months before she could tell if I was in remission. So six months down the road, she finally said that I was in remission already. I was so happy. She told me to eat what I eat and to do what I do to maintain the same situation.

[Lolabridge in reply to Amy_Lee]

At all times I have followed the instructions given by my Rheumatology Consultant. I was on 15mg plus steroid injections for a brief period when I was waiting to start on Rituximab and not on any other RA drugs. Then I went down to 10mg daily with the occasional steroid injection until the wonderful effect of Rituximab was fully achieved. Following that I stayed on 7mg per day until the consultant told me to start the taper programme by reducing 1 mg per month this September. He says my RA is under control with the Rituximab and stable at the moment but I'm not in remission, nor am I expecting to be yet, if ever.

It's great that you were able to tolerate MTX, which worked so well for you, and to be able to reduce your steroid dosage so early on. You must be thrilled to be in remission now.

[Amy_Lee in reply to Lolabridge]

From your reply, the treatment over there is very difference from ours here. I am not sure how much steroid my rheumy injected for me during the very first treatment. She gave me 2 steroid injection and told me that steroid is just a bridge to help me pull through while waiting for mtx to work on me. After the injection, I still had the horrible pain as usual. With the daily steroid, no change also.

But now I can see my dosage was very small hence I did not feel the usefulness of it on me. That also gave me a very easy way to taper it eventually.

I hope you will be eventually get out of the steroid soon. Do keep me informed of your progress. I always believe I can learn a lot from reading the experience of others since we are all very difference from one another.