Steroid therapy is the use of steroid medicines, also known as corticosteroids, to treat quite a few varieties of autoimmune disease, like myasthenia gravis, lupus, and several sclerosis, and other issues, such as asthma. Steroid medications involve medicines like prednisone and cortisone. Corticosteroids can be prescribed to be taken orally or in other techniques, such as by inhalation.

According to Western medicine, steroid medications are medically essential to treat lots of situations and ailments. It is vital not only to adhere to the suggestions of your healthcare skilled regarding steroid use, if you have decided steroid therapy is correct for you, but also to discover other health-related selections if you have second thoughts about steroid drugs.

Is steroid therapy appropriate for you?

Steroid drugs have big effects on the metabolism of calcium and bone. Steroid therapy can result in serious bone loss, osteoporosis, and broken bones. Higher dosage of steroid medications can lead to fast bone loss, up to as considerably as 15 % per year. If you are on steroids, you are more than twice as probably to have a spine fracture as compared to a individual not taking steroids. Fracture threat increases as the day-to-day doses of steroid medications increases. The significant influence of steroid medication on bone is fractures (broken bones) that occur most typically in the spine and ribs. There are different prices of bone loss among people on corticosteroids. Bone loss happens most quickly in the 1st six months soon after beginning oral steroid medications. Just after 12 months of chronic steroid use, there is a slower loss of bone. Having said that, it must be talked about that not all patients who take steroid drugs expertise bone loss.

Other adverse side effects of steroid medicines are elevation of blood pressure, weight gain, decreased resistance to infection, indigestion, thinning of skin, and possible improvement of cataracts and glaucoma.

Let me relate my personal encounter with steroid therapy.

I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis a number of 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 in the course of periods of activity and anxiousness, but improves soon after periods of rest and calm. Particular muscle tissues, such as these that control eyes and eyelid movements, facial expression, speaking, chewing and swallowing are often involved in this disorder. In addition, the muscle tissues that manage breathing, neck, and limb movements might 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. Thankfully, I did not have weakness of the pharynx muscle tissues, which could bring about difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as well as slurred speech in a lot of cases of myasthenia gravis.

I was prescribed steroid drugs and had been on a steroid therapy for three years. In addition, I was also given medications to deal with bone loss and other side adverse effects connected with the use of steroids.

In my case, there was some improvement, but not considerable sufficient to make me make a decision to continue the steroid therapy after 3 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 system, which was the cause of the illness in the very first location, is not only an integrated network of cells that would guard me in instances of an infection, but also a program with many regulatory mechanisms that, if uncontrolled, would grow to be my enemy instead of my friend. Additional importantly, these steroids may manage the symptoms of myasthenia gravis, but they may possibly also impair my immune system with lasting effects on my overall health and wellness further down the road.

I recognized that the human body has a all-natural mechanism for self-healing, if provided the suitable environment. Accordingly, I took matters into my hands, and created a drastic choice to quit my steroid therapy without having consulting my doctor (Warning: I do not ask everyone to do the very same.) I stopped the medication very slowly and gradually. Meanwhile, I did anything to increase my immune system via a thorough detoxification plan, and a adjust of diet plan. yoursite.com did not get weight, my blood stress became typical and, most vital of all, my myasthenia gravis situations did not deteriorate. Up to this day, I nonetheless have some double vision, which I have learned to cope with (I can still drive), but my other symptoms have disappeared. I have been off steroid therapy for a lot more than one decade already.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, after stated: “No man is a greater physician than himself, who knows his own constitution.” No one can determine for you what is ideal for your overall health. A doctor can only give assistance, but you are the a single who tends to make the selection on whether or not steroid therapy is suitable for you. Listen to your physique.