Approximately one million Americans per year take high doses of prednisone and related drugs (glucocorticoids) to treat serious illnesses and conditions ranging from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis to kidney disease to organ transplantation. Wile these medicines may have unpleasant, even devastating side effects, including gastrointestinal problems, intense mood swings, changes in hair and skin, and increased susceptibility to infection, they may also be the only treatment available for serious or life-threatening illnesses. When the world-renowned flutist Eugenia Zuckerman was prescribed prednisone to combat a rare lung disease, she teamed up with her sister, Julie R. Ingelfinger, a well-known specialist in pediatric nephrology and hypertension at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to write the first ever, comprehensive guide for patients undergoing this difficult treatment. Packed with everything your doctor didn't have time to tell you, including recipes, exercises, and tips based on personal experience, Coping with Prednisone is an invaluable handbook for health-care workers, caregivers, and especially for patients themselves.

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 resource—which 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.

Having practiced yoga for more than thirty years, Audrey Pearson had always felt fit, strong, and flexible. Then one day in October of 2004, she awoke to flu-like symptoms, unable to move her limbs. These symptoms never decreased and only inflated. She was diagnosed with Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR), a mysterious autoimmune disease; and was treated with the steroid drug Prednisone. Written in diary format, My Four-Year PMR & Prednisone Challenge describes Pearson's daily struggle not only with the disease but with managing steroid treatment and her painful journey of withdrawing from Prednisone use. She attributes her successful recovery to her long-term practice of yoga, a gentle way to optimize the flow of life energy to help a person feel their personal best at any given time. The yoga practices helped her understand the counterintuitive healing purpose of the presence of the autoimmune disease in her life. Though the four-year experience was difficult, Pearson realized that PMR was an important and strict teacher who arrived at her door to teach her tolerance and acceptance. In My Four-Year PMR & Prednisone Challenge, Pearson relates how PMR and Prednisone withdrawal was tolerated, embraced, and experienced as an opportunity for personal and spiritual transformation.

Provides a guide to making treatment with this steroid as effective and trouble-free as possible.

Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) and Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) are linked rheumatic inflammatory illnesses that affect older people - generally, people over 50. They are chronic autoimmune conditions that cause untold misery, pain and debilitation. More acutely, undiagnosed GCA can lead to blindness, which is irreversible. In the United Kingdom each year, there are an estimated 40,000 new cases of PMR and 10,000 new cases of GCA, with a significant degree of overlap, many people having both conditions together. Many people, when they first get their diagnosis, have never heard of PMR or GCA before, and have to get used to the idea of having a chronic inflammatory illness, together with the steroid therapy that is the only standard effective treatment widely available. Several months into their diagnosis they often have many questions about why their journey through PMR and GCA isn't as smooth as they were led to expect. This book is written to give people who have Polymyalgia Rheumatica, or Giant Cell Arteritis (sometimes known as temporal arteritis), and their friends and carers, information about these illnesses, drawing on recent research. It also aims to give insights into what it is like to have these conditions, and how sufferers and those close to them can help themselves in the self-management of their condition towards recovery. It is not intended to replace information provided by your doctor or clinician. This second edition incorporates recommendations by international working groups on the diagnosis and management of PMR and GCA, and findings from research published since 2014. A full references list and index have been added. The author, Dr Kate Gilbert, PhD, is a semi-retired lecturer in management development, now concentrating on writing and voluntary work. She has spent several years, as a PMR survivor, studying these conditions and working as a volunteer with the PMR and GCA charity, PMRGCAuk. A former Chair of Trustees, she helps to edit the charity's website www.pmrgcauk.com and its regular newsletter. She has also served as a patient representative on a number of working groups, including the ACR/EULAR group to develop international recommendations for PMR, and has recently contributed a chapter on patient education to a medical textbook on PMR and GCA published by Oxford University Press.

Miracle drug or deal with the devil? After forty years of marriage, Jill and Don Stegman had it all—two beautiful children, a stable relationship, fulfilling careers. But a brush with cancer and subsequent complications upended their lives. Don survived the cancer but was saddled with a sinister sidekick that transformed this gentle Dr. Jekyll into an evil Mr. Hyde: a white pill called prednisone. What was supposed to save him instead killed him—by his own hand. With 44 million prescriptions written per year, for everything from allergies to immune system disorders, prednisone is something of a miracle drug. But the side effects—mania, psychosis, depression—took Don's life and nearly ruined Jill's. In the months and years after Don's death, Jill reels from grief but finds her own way of coping. A memoir written in beautiful prose, One Pill Makes You Stronger is a love story, a cautionary tale, and a true testament to human resilience.

The Third Edition of this popular book brings up to date the material that so many readers found helpful in the previous editions. The text has been revised and reorganized with current chapters focusing on the history of cortisol use, sources of confusion regarding cortisol therapy, the significance of normal adrenocortical function, generally accepted uses of physiological dosage, viral infections, miscellaneous clinical conditions, and future directions for research and therapy. The author provides explanation and confirmation of the rationale for the effectiveness and safety of the uses of physiological dosages of cortisol in the treatment, not only of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders, but also of patients with chronic allergies, chronic fatigue syndrome, gonadal dysfunction, infertility, shingles, acne, hirsutism, respiratory infections, and other less common disorders. It is a known fact that the influenza virus attacks the human body by impairing the production of the adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which, in turn, impairs the production of cortisol; the only hormone that is absolutely essential for life. In addition, within the past two years, a new infection has developed in central China and has been labeled Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The ACTH hormone and the SARS epidemic is addressed, and it is hoped that this type of cortisol therapy will not only be helpful in the treatment of the various disorders mentioned but will lead to a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the development of these disorders and ultimately contribute towards their prevention.

Cushing's Disease: An Often Misdiagnosed and Not So Rare Disorder reviews the epidemiology of Cushing's, including statistics on the incidence and prevalence of this disease. There are discussions of the signs and symptoms and the most common co-morbidities, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, amenorrhea, and infertility. Surgical, medical, and radiotherapeutic treatments, including indications, results, risks, and complications, are reviewed. Also featured is a chapter on the patient's perspective, coping with Cushing's, quality of life, and psychosomatic issues. This book is essential reading for the wide range of physicians who treat patients with Cushing's disease symptoms, as well as biomedical researchers who investigate the etiology and mechanisms of rare genetic diseases, in particular rare endocrine disorders. - Reviews the basics of Cushing's disease and its interrelation with hormones, the brain, and bodily functions - Includes chapters on diagnosis, surgical, medical, and radiotherapeutic treatments, and variations in presentation, including cyclical disease - Presents the cognitive and emotional aspects of Cushing's and the long-term sequelae - Offers an important resource for physicians who are accustomed to treating individual symptoms rather than a disease complex - Reviews multidisciplinary management, and post-treatment management of Cushing's, including recommendations for Cushing's Centers of Excellence

Clinical Case Studies for the Family Nurse Practitioner is a key resource for advanced practice nurses and graduate students seeking to test their skills in assessing, diagnosing, and managing cases in family and primary care. Composed of more than 70 cases ranging from common to unique, the book compiles years of experience from experts in the field. It is organized chronologically, presenting cases from neonatal to geriatric care in a standard approach built on the SOAP format. This includes differential diagnosis and a series of critical thinking questions ideal for self-assessment or classroom use.

Asperger Syndrome and Alcohol exposes the unexplored problem of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) using alcohol as a coping mechanism to deal with everyday life. Alcohol can relieve the anxiety of social situations and make those with ASDs feel as though they can fit in. Ultimately, however, reliance on alcohol can lead the user down a path of self-destruction and exacerbate existing problems. Utilising their professional and personal experience, the authors provide an overview of ASDs and of alcohol abuse, and explore current knowledge about where the two overlap. Tinsley explores his own personal history as someone with an ASD who has experienced and beaten alcohol addiction. He discusses how the impact of his diagnosis and his understanding of the condition played a huge part in his recovery, and how by viewing his life through the prism of autism, his confusion has been replaced by a greater understanding of himself and the world around him. This inspiring book on an under-researched area will be of interest to professionals working with people with ASDs, as well as individuals with ASDs who may be dealing with alcohol or substance misuse, and their families.