Steroid Treatment Card

[SudsSuds]

I was reading Sydneychihuahua's recent post about problems with her doctor suggesting she had been on pred too long and should stop immediately. Like everybody else I had not heard of such a thing and thought I would suggest Sydneychihuahua show her steroid card to the doctor. I thought that should help get the message across.

So I dug it out and sure enough in bold it states "I am a patient on STEROID treatment which must not be stopped suddenly". Good I thought until I read on where it said "...unless your doctor says otherwise".

Well I thought I don't remember that bit. Does anyone know if this steroid card is wrong. If not does anyone know of any circumstances where a doctor might be justified in saying "stop".

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

which card do you have ? The older blue one treatment card states that. If you are still on steroids you should carry the newer emergency card -which doesn’t have that comment.

If the steroids are prescribed for an acute illness then they can still be stopped after a relatively short time.

Cards

[SudsSuds in reply to DorsetLady]

I have the blue one. I need the new one. Where can I get it please? Can you record your dose on that one?

[sueysue in reply to DorsetLady]

Got mine from Pharmacy

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to DorsetLady]

Your fingers are still in the air??

[Getmoving4 in reply to DorsetLady]

I have only been given the blue one. Where do i get the red one from please?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Getmoving4]

Try asking your GP or pharmacy or as said in linked reply download from charity webpage -

healthunlocked.com/pmrgcauk...

[SudsSuds in reply to DorsetLady]

Thanks DL will do.

[SudsSuds in reply to SudsSuds]

oops over keen

[Getmoving4 in reply to Getmoving4]

Thank you

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

see this from charity’s website.-

pmrgca.org.uk/steroid-emerg...

Says it’s obtainable from GP (might be!), but try pharmacy or download a copy .. and no it doesn’t have facility to record changes in doses. A drawback for many - so you really need both.. not sure which one charity send out when you renew your membership annually.

[Rubha in reply to DorsetLady]

I contacted the Secretary of our local support group and he sent me some blue cards. I like the idea of recording dosage.

[Rugger in reply to DorsetLady]

The charity send out the blue one.

Safe journey home.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to Rugger]

Thanks…thought they did but wasn’t 100% sure. That’s the best one for keeping doses up to date. Got home Tuesday evening - 😊

[Rubha]

If you have a nearby support group, you may be able to get the Blue Card from them. That's how I get mine. Good luck.

[Excelsior80]

I uave both cards in my bag, the GP surgery gave me the emergency one and the one with doses arrived in the post. I think the emergency one is useful to make them stop and think, and maybe check guidelines if they don't know about long term steroid use.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Excelsior80]

That was the idea of the red one I think - but the education campaign to tell them about it either didn't happen or was an abject failure in places ...

[Bcol]

I still carry both and have a bracelet. Think I got a blue one from the charity, but I downloaded both.

[Nanatoo]

Doesn’t have the “ unless your doctor says otherwise” on my card. I’ve only recently got mine so maybe it’s been changed.

[Strippy]

I was given both the blue one and the red one from the pharmacy at my GP surgery when I was started on steroids. When I ran out of space on the blue one I was given a new one recently without any questions or fuss. But it does have 'unless our Doctor says otherwise' on it. On the back it says version 102015_002 ?