Anabolic Steroids Effects of Anabolic Steroids
You might feel dizzy and you may feel as though the room is spinning. Talk to your doctor or nurse about any of these side effects. Take your tablets after a meal or with milk as they can irritate your stomach. Steroids can cause a reaction called steroid induced psychosis.
- Age can also be a factor with young children and older people more commonly experiencing side effects.
- The dose you have and how long you have the treatment for depends on the reason you are taking steroids.
- Take your tablets after a meal or with milk as they can irritate your stomach.
- Like all medicines, this medicine can cause side effects, although not everybody gets them.
Drugs that inhibit hepatic enzyme cytochrome P-450 (CYP) isoenzyme 3A4 (e.g. ketoconazole, troleandomycin) may decrease glucocorticoid clearance. Dosages of glucocorticoids given in combination with such drugs may need to be decreased to avoid potential adverse effects. Plasma concentrations of prednisolone may be increased with antiviral drugs such as ritonavir and indinavir.
Steroids (methylprednisolone)
The vaccine against the most common cause of pneumonia and yearly flu vaccines don’t interact with steroid tablets, as they’re not live vaccines. It’s important that you have these vaccinations to reduce your chances of getting these infections. If you’ve taken steroid tablets for more than a few days, they can cause side effects known as withdrawal symptoms if you stop suddenly.
Stopping suddenly can cause your adrenal gland, which makes important hormones for the body, to stop working. Effects on your mood can happen quite suddenly and improve once you stop taking steroids. Nonetheless, it can be unsettling to experience changes in mood.
About corticosteroids
This is when your optic nerve in your eye becomes damaged due to a build-up of fluid. For children in particular, there may be conflicts of information between the manufacturer’s patient information leaflet (PIL) and guidance provided by GOSH and other healthcare providers. For example, some manufacturers may recommend, in the patient information leaflet, that a medicine is not given to children aged under 12 years. Although children are usually given the chicken pox vaccine, if your child is receiving high-dose steroids we recommend siblings or other close family members have it.
Do not stop taking corticosteroids suddenly if you have been taking them for more than three weeks. Your body normally makes its own steroid chemicals and when you take steroid tablets your body may reduce or stop making its own steroid chemicals. If the dose is reduced gradually, the body resumes its natural production of steroids and the symptoms do not occur, although some have to withdraw more slowly than others to avoid low energy and fatigue. You may notice more side effects if you need to take high doses of your inhaler for a long time.
You might have weaker bones due to bone loss (osteoporosis). There are a number of reasons you might have steroids as part of your cancer treatment. They help to control many functions including the immune system, reducing inflammation and blood pressure.
Steroid tablets
However, when administered for prolonged periods or repeatedly during pregnancy, corticosteroids may increase the risk of intra-uterine growth retardation. The use of corticosteroids, including prednisolone, during pregnancy may also result in stillbirth. Hypoadrenalism may, in theory, occur in the neonate following prenatal exposure to corticosteroids but usually resolves spontaneously following birth and is rarely clinically important. Cataracts have been observed in infants born to mothers treated with long-term prednisolone during pregnancy.
Types of corticosteroids
Corticosteroids are mainly used to reduce inflammation and suppress the immune system. If you’re using a steroid cream it’s fine to have vaccinations, but you’ll need to tell the person giving you the injection to avoid the area being treated with the cream. Steroids can weaken bones, which can lead to a condition known as osteoporosis. This condition makes it more likely that you’ll fracture your bones, sometimes after very minor falls or bumps.
Speak to a nurse
Long term or continuous courses of steroid tablets can affect the way the body controls blood sugar levels. If your blood sugars stay raised, this could lead to ‘steroid-induced diabetes .’ Your doctor should arrange blood https://healthcapitalconsultants.org tests to check your blood sugar levels. If you notice you’re thirsty, or need to urinate more than usual, tell your doctor. If you’re taking steroid tablets you might need to avoid live vaccines, such as yellow fever.
What dose do I take?
You may get some of the side effects we mention, but you are unlikely to get all of them. If you are also having treatment with other cancer drugs, you may have some side effects that we have not listed here. Always tell your doctor, nurse or pharmacist about any side effects you have.