Steroid therapy is the use of steroid medications, also known as corticosteroids, to treat lots of forms of autoimmune illness, including myasthenia gravis, lupus, and a number of sclerosis, and other problems, such as asthma. Steroid medicines consist of drugs 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 drugs are medically essential to treat many circumstances and ailments. It is important not only to comply with the suggestions of your healthcare experienced concerning steroid use, if you have decided steroid therapy is appropriate for you, but also to discover other healthcare possibilities if you have second thoughts about steroid medicines.

Is steroid therapy ideal for you?

Steroid medicines have big effects on the metabolism of calcium and bone. Steroid therapy can result in extreme bone loss, osteoporosis, and broken bones. Higher dosage of steroid drugs can lead to rapid bone loss, up to as a great deal as 15 % per year. If you are on steroids, you are a lot more than twice as most likely to have a spine fracture as compared to a person not taking steroids. Fracture risk increases as the day-to-day doses of steroid medicines increases. The significant impact of steroid medication on bone is fractures (broken bones) that happen most frequently in the spine and ribs. There are distinct rates of bone loss among men and women on corticosteroids. Bone loss happens most swiftly in the initially six months soon after beginning oral steroid drugs. After 12 months of chronic steroid use, there is a slower loss of bone. Nonetheless, it should be pointed out that not all individuals who take steroid drugs encounter bone loss.

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

Let me relate my own practical experience with steroid therapy.

I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis several 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 during periods of activity and anxiousness, but improves after periods of rest and calm. Particular muscles, such as those that handle eyes and eyelid movements, facial expression, speaking, chewing and swallowing are normally involved in this disorder. In addition, the muscles that handle breathing, neck, and limb movements may possibly 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. Fortunately, I did not have weakness of the pharynx muscles, which could bring about difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as properly as slurred speech in numerous cases of myasthenia gravis.

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

In my case, there was some improvement, but not substantial enough to make me choose to continue the steroid therapy after three years of treatment. I had to balance the dangers of steroids and the symptoms of myasthenia gravis.

My rude awakening came when I realized that my immune method, which was the bring about of the illness in the very first place, is not only an integrated network of cells that would protect me in times of an infection, but also a technique with several regulatory mechanisms that, if uncontrolled, would turn out to be my enemy instead of my buddy. Far more importantly, these steroids may possibly control the symptoms of myasthenia gravis, but they may also impair my immune method with lasting effects on my all round well being and wellness further down the road.

I recognized that the human body has a all-natural mechanism for self-healing, if given the acceptable atmosphere. Accordingly, I took matters into my hands, and made a drastic choice to quit my steroid therapy with no consulting my doctor (Warning: I do not ask everyone to do the very same.) I stopped the medication really slowly and gradually. Meanwhile, I did anything to strengthen my immune method by means of a thorough detoxification system, and a modify of diet regime. I did not obtain weight, my blood pressure became normal 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 discovered to cope with (I can still drive), but my other symptoms have disappeared. I have been off steroid therapy for more than a single decade already.

TRT , the father of medicine, once mentioned: “No man is a superior doctor than himself, who knows his own constitution.” No a single can make a decision for you what is ideal for your wellness. A medical doctor can only give guidance, but you are the one who makes the choice on no matter whether steroid therapy is appropriate for you. Listen to your physique.