Known brand names include Rayos and Deltasone.
A corticosteroid pill that calms inflammation and the immune system. It is used for flares of asthma, arthritis, lupus, allergies, skin and eye disease, and many other conditions, usually at the lowest dose for the shortest time.
Prednisone is a man-made version of the steroid hormones the body makes naturally. It acts on tissues in nearly every organ system, reducing inflammation, swelling, and redness. It also changes how the immune system reacts to many different triggers. On top of that, it has wide effects on body chemistry, including how the body handles sugar, fat, salt, potassium, and calcium.
Taken for a long time, it signals the body's own steroid production to shut down, and this can last up to 12 months after stopping. Stopping suddenly can then leave the body short of steroids, with extreme tiredness, weakness, upset stomach, and salt craving. Because it weakens the immune system, it raises the risk of infections and can hide their signs. Its effects on calcium and bone building can thin the bones, and it can make the body hold salt and water and lose potassium.
Prednisone is a steroid pill that calms inflammation and an overactive immune system. It is used for flares of arthritis and gout, lupus, severe allergies and asthma that usual treatments have not controlled, and serious skin, eye, and lung conditions. It also treats some blood disorders, such as a low platelet count with no clear cause in adults. For a long-lasting disease, it can help control symptoms but does not cure the condition.
It also replaces steroid hormones when the adrenal glands do not make enough, although the label names hydrocortisone or cortisone as the first choice for that. It helps people through severe flares of ulcerative colitis and other bowel inflammation, reduces protein loss in the urine in nephrotic syndrome, a kidney condition, and eases some leukemias and lymphomas. Children take it for some conditions, such as juvenile arthritis and childhood leukemia, and long use can slow their growth. For tuberculosis, it is given only together with tuberculosis drugs.
People often notice a bigger appetite, weight gain, a rounder face, swelling, trouble sleeping, mood swings, higher blood sugar, and skin that bruises or tears easily. The label treats infections as a major danger because it can hide their signs. It also warns about the body's own steroid production shutting down, bone loss and fractures, stomach ulcers, cataracts and glaucoma, and slower growth in children.