Coping with Prednisone, Revised and Updated (*and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines)

by Zukerman, Eugenia; Ingelfinger, Julie R., M.D.

• ISBN13: 9780312375607
• ISBN10: 0312375603
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-10
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

Approximately one million Americans per year take high doses of prednisone and related drugs. While these medicines may be necessary to treat serious illnesses, they may also have unpleasant, and even devastating, side effects, including changes in mood, weight, and physical strength, and vulnerability to infection. In 1997, after acclaimed flutist Eugenia Zukerman was prescribed prednisone for a rare lung disease, she teamed up with her sister, Harvard physician Julie Ingelfinger, to write the first book that helps patients deal with the side effects of the prescription. This welcome update to a superb resourcewhich is still the only book on the subject covers the latest knowledge about bone health, the use of steroids for children, and new steroid compounds, along with additional strategies and exercises based on their own experiences and responses from other patients and physicians.

Author Biography

Eugenia Zukerman is an internationally renowned flutist, the arts correspondent for CBS-TV News's "Sunday Morning," and the writer of many articles, two novels, and several screenplay. She lives in New York City.

Her sister, Julie R. Ingelfinger, M.D. , is chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital, directs her own research laboratory, and is an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Julie has written more than 130 articles, authored a book on pediatric hypertension, and is the editor of a textbook that comes out every other year, Current Pediatric Therapy. She lives in Boston.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Coping with Prednisone: Who Needs This Book?	p. xi
Introduction	p. xiii
Terms Used in This Book	p. xvii
How Bloated Will I Be?	p. 1
Aren't Wet Feet Petty at a Time Like This?	p. 6
They've Kicked In	p. 10
Tell Me in Plain English, What Is This Stuff and Why Do I Need It?	p. 15
Depression-Singing the Blues	p. 31
Diet Guidelines-Beating the Bloat and the Munchies	p. 48
Coping with Other Side Effects	p. 67
Special Situations: Glucocorticoid Treatment in Pregnant Women, the Very Young, and the Very Old	p. 87
Changing Doctors	p. 101
Attitude: A Personal Attempt to Think Positive	p. 111
Weathering Withdrawal: You Can't Stop Cold Turkey	p. 123
The Future: Life After Steroid Treatment	p. 133
Living with Prednisone: What If It's Forever?	p. 135
Lessons Learned from a Tough Cure	p. 144
Recipes to Help You Beat the Bloat	p. 153
Exercises	p. 182
Partnership for Health: A Reexamination of the Doctor-Patient Relationship and Prescribing Practices	p. 195
Steroids: Types, Potency, Brands	p. 201
Resources That Can Help	p. 217
Selected References about Glucocorticoids	p. 225
Index	p. 229
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