However, prednisolone can get into breast milk. If you're taking a high dose of prednisolone the baby may need to be monitored for side effects. For safety, it's usually recommended that you wait 3 to 4 hours after taking your dose of prednisolone before feeding your baby or expressing milk. There are many medicines that interfere with the way prednisolone works, or that increase the risk of side effects. It's very important you check a medicine is safe to take with prednisolone before you start taking it.
This includes some medicines that you buy over the counter like aspirin and anti-inflammatory painkillers such as ibuprofen. There's very little information about taking herbal remedies and supplements with prednisolone. For safety, tell your doctor or pharmacist if you take any other medicines, including herbal remedies, vitamins or supplements.
Steroids mimic the effects of hormones your body naturally produces in your adrenal glands. The adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys.
When prescribed in doses higher than your body's usual levels, steroids like prednisolone dampen inflammation. This can reduce the symptoms of inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis and asthma. Steroids also damp down your immune system, which can help in autoimmune illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis , where your immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues. For other illnesses, you may not feel any better even though the medicine is helping you.
This may be the case if you're taking prednisolone to stop your symptoms getting worse or to prevent a problem happening for example after an organ transplant. You may need to take it for longer - even for many years or the rest of your life. If you have to take prednisolone for more than a few weeks, the chances are that you will put on weight. Prednisolone can make you hungrier and retain water, so it can be quite challenging to avoid weight gain. Try to eat well without increasing your portion sizes.
Regular exercise will also help to keep your weight stable. Once you stop taking prednisolone, any issues around increased appetite or water retention should return to normal. It can be dangerous to stop taking prednisolone suddenly, especially if you have been on a high dose for a long time.
Your health condition may flare up again. You may also get extra side effects including:. These side effects are most likely to happen if you have taken prednisolone for more than a few weeks or you take more than 40mg daily.
Your doctor will probably want to reduce your dose gradually over several weeks to prevent these side effects. Do not stop taking prednisolone without talking to your doctor - you will need to reduce the dose gradually. Taking prednisolone for many months or years can have several harmful effects on your body. It can lead to:. If you have to take prednisolone for a long time, there are steps you can take to stay as healthy as possible:.
Taking prednisolone makes you more likely to catch infections such as flu , the common cold and chest infections. Keep away from people with an infectious disease, especially chickenpox or shingles. If you have never had these illnesses they could make you very ill. Tell your doctor straight away if you come into contact with someone who has an infectious disease such as chickenpox or shingles.
Your doctor may be able to prescribe a medicine to protect you. Taking prednisolone lowers your immune system. If you have a "live" vaccine, like the shingles vaccine, while you are taking prednisolone your immune system might not be able to handle it. This may lead to an infection. Inactive vaccinations, like the flu vaccine, are safe.
If you are taking prednisolone for longer than 3 weeks, or you have been prescribed a high dose of more than 40mg daily, your doctor or pharmacist will give you a blue steroid treatment card. The card is the size of a credit card and fits in your wallet or purse. It tells you how you can reduce the risks of side effects. It also gives details of your doctor, how much prednisolone you take and how long the treatment will last for.
If you need any medical or dental treatment, show your blue steroid card to the doctor or dentist so they know that you are taking prednisolone.
If you receive a live vaccine while taking prednisone, your immune system might not be able to handle it properly. This may lead to an infection. Taking prednisone with drugs that treat diabetes may result in an increase in your blood glucose levels and problems controlling your diabetes.
Examples of these drugs include:. Taking warfarin with prednisone may reduce the blood-thinning effect of warfarin. If you take these drugs together, your doctor may monitor your treatment with warfarin closely. However, because drugs interact differently in each person, we cannot guarantee that this information includes all possible interactions.
Prednisone oral tablet can cause a serious allergic reaction in some people. This reaction can cause a skin rash, which can include:. Taking it again could be fatal cause death. For people with infections: Taking prednisone weakens your immune system and can worsen an infection you already have. It also increases your risk of getting a new infection. For people with heart or kidney disease: Prednisone may make you retain salt and water, which can raise your blood pressure.
For people with diabetes: Prednisone can increase your blood sugar level. You might need to monitor your blood sugar level more closely. If it goes up too much, your dosage of diabetes medication might need to be changed. For people with eye problems: Long-term prednisone use can increase your risk of getting eye infections, cataracts, or glaucoma.
Let your doctor know if you experience any vision changes or eye pain. For people with stomach problems: Prednisone can cause damage to your stomach. Let your doctor know if you experience bad stomach pain that does not go away or you get dark or bloody stools. For people with mood disorders: Prednisone may cause changes in your mood or behavior. Let your doctor know if you have changes in your mood, feel depressed, or have trouble sleeping.
For pregnant women: The delayed-release tablet Rayos is a category D pregnancy drug. That means two things:. Prednisone should only be used during pregnancy if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk. Prednisone can be passed through breast milk. For older people: As you age, your kidneys, liver, and heart may not work as well. If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible.
However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses. Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light.
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Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address. To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information and to understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your e-mail and website usage information with other information we have about you. Alternatively, there is a non-live shingles vaccine Shingrix that you may be able to have instead.
Your healthcare team will be able to advise on this. Both alcohol and steroid tablets could upset your stomach. If you have indigestion or other stomach problems after starting steroids, then alcohol is likely to add to the problem, so you may want to cut back on how much alcohol you drink. You can find out more about units of alcohol at www.
Current guidelines say that some steroid tablets, including prednisolone, can be taken during pregnancy. You should discuss the risks with your doctor if you have any concerns. Download steroids information booklet.
Print this page. What are steroids? Related information. How is the steroid taken? What does it do? What conditions is it used for? What is a common name for this type? By mouth — tablets, liquids, dissolvable tablets, also known as oral steroids Reduces inflammation throughout the whole body.
Rheumatoid arthritis , lupus , gout , other types of inflammatory arthritis or autoimmune conditions. Rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, gout, other types of inflammatory arthritis or autoimmune conditions.
Uveitis prednisolone Applied to the skin as a cream or gel, also known as topical steroids Reduces inflammation on the skin. Psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis. How are they taken? You should always take medication as prescribed by the person treating you.
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