Coping with Prednisone and other Cortisone Related Medicines
by Eugenia Zukerman and Julie R Ingelfinger M.D.

The authors, Eugenia (diagnosed with a rare lung disease requiring steroid treatment), and sister, Julie (head of a paediatric Nephrology Unit and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School), are introduced in the opening pages and discuss how they teamed up to write the book.

Using their combined experiences as patient and doctor, they describe how the book was prepared with the intention of helping those needing high dose or long term steroids understand what steroids do, why they are used, the side-effects, and how these can be minimised.

Chapter four is set out with questions posed by the patient (Eugenia), with easily understood answers given by the doctor (Julie), including information on what most patients don't know about glucocorticoids, their use and how they work. Included is a list of conditions and specific indications for prednisone use.

Eugenia's story and experiences continue in the following chapters on how she dealt with the effects of prednisone and what coping techniques she used. These are outlined in detail covering depression and mood changes, how to beat the bloat, which includes extensive information on dietary guidelines, foods to avoid, and exercise. Other side effects of glucocorticoid therapy, such as endocrine and metabolic changes and reactions that affect the eyes, skin and hair, the gastrointestinal, muscoskeletal and cardiovascular system, are further outlined together with strategies on how to deal with them.

Special situations are also dealt with in the book, with suggestions to meet the specific needs of children, teenagers, the elderly, and developmentally disadvantaged patients. An entire chapter has information on the tapering of steroids and withdrawal symptoms, which helps to understand the importance of slowly reducing from a high dose and how to cope with any changes.

A personal account by Eugenia and her husband highlights the impact of the ups and downs that long-term treatment had on both of them, but with positiveness she discusses further what had been learned and how life was after steroid treatment had been stopped.

As a helpful addition to the book, the issue of changing doctors gives advice on when and how to do it and the rights of the patient. Recipes and cooking tips to help beat the bloat and examples of exercises that can be done are contained in the back of the book, as is a comprehensive section detailing the types of medicines that interact with steroids, the different types of steroids, their relative strengths, and brand names.

This book is essential reading for anyone needing to take steroids and is also a useful resource for professionals.

Published by St. Martins Press, New York