Dreams???

[annekat]

I was wondering about the adrenal gland. Whatever - there's a lot of mystery to this - most of my information comes from here

I'm not expert enough to really address this, but I've read posts from Sangye and others who know more than I do. What I've gathered is that prednisone actually takes over the function of the adrenal glands, and over a long period of time on high doses, they will actually shut down from lack of use and will not always kick back in at low doses of pred or if it is discontinued.

[Dirty Don]

I was wondering about the adrenal gland. Whatever - there's a lot of mystery to this - most of my information comes from here

Adding to Anne, the adrenals produce about 3mg of 'natural' pred a day. Thus, docs are trying to get adrenals back online by 'matching' at some point the 2 sources of prednisone and hoping they kick back online and produce what they should.

[skipper]

it all makes sense. I know someone who was on pred at the same time as I was for another disorder but he has not been able to come off it. He gets to a low dose and the doctor says he can't move from that for another couple of months. I think his heart/respiratory system is affected by it. Nasty drug but like the Buckley's ad says - it works. Thanks for all the input. Skipper

[Sangye]

If you're on at least 20 mg pred for at least 3 weeks your adrenals shut down completely. As you taper below 5 mg they can try to come back online. It's very individual. Some adrenals come right back on and some don't. Some never do.