Steroid therapy is the use of steroid medications, also known as corticosteroids, to treat lots of types of autoimmune disease, like myasthenia gravis, lupus, and a number of sclerosis, and other issues, such as asthma. Steroid medications incorporate drugs like prednisone and cortisone. Corticosteroids can be prescribed to be taken orally or in other methods, such as by inhalation.

According to Western medicine, steroid medicines are medically required to treat a lot of conditions and diseases. It is important not only to comply with the suggestions of your healthcare specialist regarding steroid use, if you have decided steroid therapy is correct for you, but also to discover other healthcare selections if you have second thoughts about steroid drugs.

Is steroid therapy ideal for you?

Steroid drugs have important effects on the metabolism of calcium and bone. Steroid therapy can outcome in extreme bone loss, osteoporosis, and broken bones. High dosage of steroid medicines can cause fast bone loss, up to as significantly as 15 percent per year. If you are on steroids, you are additional than twice as probably to have a spine fracture as compared to a person not taking steroids. Fracture threat increases as the each day doses of steroid medicines increases. The significant impact of steroid medication on bone is fractures (broken bones) that take place most generally in the spine and ribs. There are distinctive rates of bone loss amongst men and women on corticosteroids. Bone loss happens most swiftly in the 1st six months right after beginning oral steroid medicines. Following 12 months of chronic steroid use, there is a slower loss of bone. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that not all sufferers who take steroid medicines encounter bone loss.

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

Let me relate my own knowledge with steroid therapy.

I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis several years ago. Myasthenia gravis is a chronic autoimmune neuromuscular illness characterized by varying degrees of weakness of the skeletal (voluntary) muscles of the body. The hallmark of the disease is muscle weakness, which increases through periods of activity and anxiousness, but improves right after periods of rest and calm. Certain muscles, such as those that control eyes and eyelid movements, facial expression, talking, chewing and swallowing are typically involved in this disorder. In addition, the muscle tissues that manage breathing, neck, and limb movements could 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 muscle tissues. Fortunately, I did not have weakness of the pharynx muscle tissues, which could cause difficulty in chewing and swallowing, as properly as slurred speech in lots of situations of myasthenia gravis.

I was prescribed steroid medicines and had been on a steroid therapy for 3 years. In addition, I was also given drugs to deal with bone loss and other side adverse effects related with the use of steroids.

In my case, there was some improvement, but not substantial sufficient to make me make a decision to continue the steroid therapy just after three years of therapy. 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 lead to of the disease in the initially place, is not only an integrated network of cells that would shield me in instances of an infection, but also a system with quite a few regulatory mechanisms that, if uncontrolled, would come to be my enemy instead of my friend. Extra importantly, these steroids may well control the symptoms of myasthenia gravis, but they may well also impair my immune method with lasting effects on my overall wellness and wellness additional down the road.

I recognized that the human body has a all-natural mechanism for self-healing, if offered the acceptable environment. Accordingly, Anabolic Steroids UK took matters into my hands, and created a drastic selection to quit my steroid therapy without the need of consulting my doctor (Warning: I do not ask anybody to do the same.) I stopped the medication extremely gradually and progressively. Meanwhile, I did almost everything to improve my immune method through a thorough detoxification plan, and a adjust of diet plan. I did not acquire weight, my blood stress became typical and, most critical of all, my myasthenia gravis situations did not deteriorate. Up to this day, I nevertheless 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 more than one particular decade currently.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, when stated: “No man is a greater doctor than himself, who knows his personal constitution.” No one particular can make a decision for you what is greatest for your well being. A doctor can only give suggestions, but you are the 1 who makes the selection on irrespective of whether steroid therapy is suitable for you. Listen to your body.