Salam,

I really need to know the answer, I searched online but I could not find anything :(

A relative of mine took Cortisone for 2 weeks (16 mgs daily).
She finished her cortisone one month ago.

Now, she needs to do an oral procedure under local anesthesia.
The dentist told her that they can work without giving her cortisone before the procedure as a precautionary measure. She mentioned something about suppression, but I did not get the term.

Dentists can not write the prescriptions of cortisone, so she sent her back to her doctor who gave her the cortisone, the doctor said no, no cortisone is required!

We are really stuck :(

1- Now is the cortisone thing true?
2- What happens if she does not take it?


Thanks

Why was she taking Coritsone for a month?

Cortisone is a steroid drug which can be used for a huge list of conditions, arthritis, chronic skin conditions, autoimmune diseases et al, so why & who prescribed her that drug in the first place?

The physician or the dentist can advise her better

Best of luck

She had a sort of swelling that required that.
She is checking with both now, thanks,

But now I really want to know the principal about cortisone.
If someone is undergoing a surgery for instance, do they take this into consideration? Is it a "rule" in medicine let's say?

Thanks Hitman,

Ducklet Cat, cortisone is an immunosuppressive drug, in other words it suppresses the inflammatory response to infection.. so I think the reason that this is taken into consideration before surgery is that a pateint under cortisone therapy would be at a higher risk of catching an infection.. Another reason might be that it causes a delay in tissue healing.. so you wouldn't want the patient to go under the knife when his body tissues will take longer to heal than usual..

Sorry I have no meaningful input, but it's quite an informative thread! :)







(please feel free to ignore this post)

Hydrocortisone is a steroid drug. It is similar to cortisone, which is made in the adrenal glands (in your body). The drug has anti-inflammatory effects in the body which is the desired action. It is used to treat a wide range of disorders such as asthma and arthritis.

Problems arise when they (drugs) are used for a long time then your body would not secret their own normal amount, automatically body knows that I dont need to secret any if am getting it from somewhere else!!!!. So the body stops secreting. Then if we stop taking the medication suddenly..BANG...the body goes into NO STEROID STATE...which is a medical emergency, reffered as Addisonian-like crises. (adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism):sudden penetrating pain in the lower back, abdomen, or legs , severe vomiting and diarrhea ,dehydration,low blood pressure,loss of consciousness, (Low sodium , high potassium, low Glucose)

symptoms are usually ignored until a stressful event like an illness or an accident causes them to become worse.

Any surgery is a stressful even for the body. I guess that the dentist was worried that your relative might go into crisis.

I feel that 2 weeks is not a very long period plus I would think & beleive that the last doses he or she were tepered means, she used lower doses & even in alternate days & not 16mg all the way to the end . Because this is the way we give steroids. She / he didnt need to take other doses as a precausion to prevent addisonian crisis.

Hydrocortisone is a steroid drug. It is similar to cortisone, which is made in the adrenal glands (in your body). The drug has anti-inflammatory effects in the body which is the desired action. It is used to treat a wide range of disorders such as asthma and arthritis.

Problems arise when they (drugs) are used for a long time then your body would not secret their own normal amount, automatically body knows that I dont need to secret any if am getting it from somewhere else!!!!. So the body stops secreting. Then if we stop taking the medication suddenly..BANG...the body goes into NO STEROID STATE...which is a medical emergency, reffered as Addisonian-like crises. (adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism):sudden penetrating pain in the lower back, abdomen, or legs , severe vomiting and diarrhea ,dehydration,low blood pressure,loss of consciousness, (Low sodium , high potassium, low Glucose)

symptoms are usually ignored until a stressful event like an illness or an accident causes them to become worse.

Any surgery is a stressful even for the body. I guess that the dentist was worried that your relative might go into crisis.

I feel that 2 weeks is not a very long period plus I would think & beleive that the last doses he or she were tepered means, she used lower doses & even in alternate days & not 16mg all the way to the end . Because this is the way we give steroids. She / he didnt need to take other doses as a precausion to prevent addisonian crisis.


Thank you um albanin. That was really really instructive. :)
No, it was not tepered.
She had no symptoms at all when she finished, so she we assume that things are ok?
Is there a sort of blood test to make sure that the body is producing cortisone normally? What test should we ask the lab for.

Thanks a lot.

Alhamd liAllah that she had no symptoms , I think because she had a very small dose for a short period. Even though I personally would prescribe un-tepered dose only for 5 days maximum, any more days I reduce the dose gradually.

If sha had'nt had any symptoms till now I presume that she is fine.
She can collect bloods for Potassium, Sodium & glucose which are the main cause of the dangerous side effects effects.