Steroids for croup: reduce symptoms and shorten hospital stays

Find out more about the risks and side effects from long-term steroids. Find out more about taking steroid tablets in the long term and how to manage side effects. Research is ongoing into new treatments for all types of severe asthma. Use our severe asthma tool to find out if you need a referral to a severe asthma specialist.

Sometimes you may need a short course of steroid tablets if you have poorly controlled asthma, an asthma attack or a COPD flare-up. Steroids are really important in these cases to treat the inflammation in your lungs, and get you well again. Steroids affect your child’s immune system, so they shouldn’t have any ‘live’ vaccines if they’re receiving a high dose of injected or oral steroids. But it’s important they’re up to date with other vaccines beforehand to avoid catching one of the diseases that vaccination prevents.

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If this happens, you will be given a different type of topical steroid treatment. If you have any questions or concerns about your bone health, talk to your healthcare professional. You could also contact our specialist Helpline nurses for more information and support.

• Mifepristone may reduce the effect of corticosteroids for 3-4 days.
• Pneumovax and yearly flu vaccines are safe and recommended, but avoid ‘live’ vaccines such as that used against yellow fever.
• Leukotriene Receptor Agonist (LTRA) can be a useful as a first line add on to therapy where allergy, especially allergic rhinitis affects asthma control.

The type of infections you are more at risk of depends on the type and dose of steroid medication you take. For example, steroid tablets and steroids given intravenously (into a vein) can make you more prone to developing infections such as colds, chickenpox, shingles and measles. The types of corticosteroids most often used to treat lymphoma are dexamethasone, methylprednisolone and prednisolone.

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You can contact us if you’d like support with any aspect of living with lymphoma. You might also be interested in our information about communicating with the people around you, which includes tips to help you let others know how you’re feeling. Although it can be upsetting to gain weight, continue to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

There is evidence that steroid drugs may come through into your breast milk. You can make a decision together based on the benefits to you and the possible risks to your baby. Talk to your doctor or nurse about effective contraception before starting your cancer treatment. Let them know straight away if you or your partner falls pregnant while having treatment.

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But if your risk of breaking a bone is still higher, your doctor may suggest staying on an osteoporosis medication for longer, before possibly having a pause in treatment after five years. This pause in treatment – sometimes called a ‘drug holiday’ – will only be suitable if you’re on a bisphosphonate drug, such as alendronate. Adrenal cortical atrophy develops during prolonged therapy and may persist for years after stopping treatment. Withdrawal of corticosteroids after prolonged therapy must therefore always be gradual to avoid acute adrenal insufficiency, being tapered off over weeks or months according to the dose and duration of treatment.

Feeling hungrier can make it difficult to keep your weight down. Your appetite will go back to normal when you stop steroids – but some people need to diet to lose the extra weight. Keep away from people who have chicken pox or shingles whilst taking steroids if you have never had these illnesses.

In adults, the frequency of severe reactions has been estimated to be 5-6%. Psychological effects have been reported on withdrawal of corticosteroids; the frequency is unknown. Hypoadrenalism may, in theory, occur in the neonate following prenatal exposure to corticosteroids but usually resolves spontaneously following birth and is rarely clinically important.

As the effect of the steroid wears off, some people experience a flare of their psoriasis. If steroid injections are infrequent (less than every three to four months) it is unlikely that long term side effects will occur. However, perhaps now a lack of response by two hours may be a signal to offer additional therapy. The NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary on croup (updated in 2017) recommends that all children with mild, moderate, or severe croup should receive a single dose of oral dexamethasone (0.15 mg per kg body weight).

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In hay fever sufferers, immunotherapy is especially effective in treating peak seasonal wheezing/asthma that occurs in patients with severe grass allergy. One of the side effects of oral corticosteroids is that they can increase blood glucose levels and increase insulin resistance , which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Co-treatment with CYP3A inhibitors, including cobicistat-containing products, is expected to increase the risk of systemic side-effects. The combination should be avoided unless the benefit outweighs the increased risk of systemic corticosteroid side-effects, in which case patients should be monitored for systemic corticosteroid side-effects.

Steroids can sometimes affect diabetes, high blood pressure or epilepsy, so you’ll have your blood pressure and blood sugar levels checked from time to time. The person treating activefittesto you might change the dose of your medications if needed. Steroids can sometimes cause diabetes or raised blood sugar in people who haven’t previously had this condition.