Korven
Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2019
- Messages
- 1,133
My mom had an autoimmune flareup earlier this year (temporal arteritis i.e inflammation in arteries) and was put on very high dose glucocorticoids to stop the disease process. The plan is to slowly taper down the drug during 2 years.
I am worried that this problem will just keep coming back and am also worried that her bones will get really weak, along with all of the other unpleasant side effects from taking prednisone e.g cancer risk, dementia, cardiovascular disease, etc, etc.
How can I help her? She is 60+ years old, unjabbed (thank God!), probably hypothyroid and often very stressed out. She has also had rheumatoid arthritis her whole life.
From what I understand, taking prednisone will shut down ACTH production by the pituitary, leading to adrenal involution and loss of protective hormones like DHEA. Basically, you are only left with the harmful effects of unopposed cortisol.
Is it a good idea to give her a replacement dose of DHEA or pregnenolone? Something like 100 mg preg and 5 mg DHEA per day? Or would progesterone be better? Anything that else that could help her?
She is eating robustly (because I have been nagging her about the importance of diet) and is open to trying supplements to help wean off the prednisone/or at least mitigate the harmful effects.
I am super grateful for any advice on this predicament. Thank you.
I am worried that this problem will just keep coming back and am also worried that her bones will get really weak, along with all of the other unpleasant side effects from taking prednisone e.g cancer risk, dementia, cardiovascular disease, etc, etc.
How can I help her? She is 60+ years old, unjabbed (thank God!), probably hypothyroid and often very stressed out. She has also had rheumatoid arthritis her whole life.
From what I understand, taking prednisone will shut down ACTH production by the pituitary, leading to adrenal involution and loss of protective hormones like DHEA. Basically, you are only left with the harmful effects of unopposed cortisol.
Is it a good idea to give her a replacement dose of DHEA or pregnenolone? Something like 100 mg preg and 5 mg DHEA per day? Or would progesterone be better? Anything that else that could help her?
She is eating robustly (because I have been nagging her about the importance of diet) and is open to trying supplements to help wean off the prednisone/or at least mitigate the harmful effects.
I am super grateful for any advice on this predicament. Thank you.