Posted by johnLA on November 26, 2013, at 22:30:23
hi all-
i am thinking of trialing 1 to 3mg of prednisone per day for my depression...
i suffer from chronic sinusitis. i have had 3 surgeries to remove nasal polyps.
before these surgeries the ent will put you on a 2 week run of prednisone. 1 week before the sugery, 1 week post-op. this greatly reduces the inflammation caused by the nasal polyps. i even get a bit of my sense of smell back for a month or so after. amazing.
i also had an unbelievable reduction of my depressive symptoms while on the steroids as well as great relief from my arthritis in my one remaining real hip.
i was not manic. i just had my old energy back.
there are some very serious side effects to long-term steroid use. but! i have found some studies that show a. low dose steroids may work for depression and b. doses <5mg of prednisone taken over decades do not have the issues of the drug taken long-term at higher doses (i.e. moon face, weight gain, diabetes, bone density issues, etc.)
here is the link that mentions 2 small studies about using steroids at a low dose for depression (it's pretty far down);
http://www.psychweekly.com/aspx/article/ArticleDetail.aspx?articleid=53
i'll make a 2nd post about the latest medical thoughts about long-term low dose steroid use..
poster:johnLA
thread:1054949
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20131115/msgs/1054949.html