Coping With Prednisone and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines : It May Work Miracles, but How Do You Handle the Side Effects?

Rating:
Summary: Prepare to Win the Prednisone Assault.......
Review: I am coping with the side effects of prednisone right now so my review may be a little harsh. This book wasn't exactly what I was looking for. It was more or less the side effects of one person and her story. I thought it was boring and I didn't find the book helpful in anyway except for a few good food tips. I could tell that this lady had it planned in the beginning to write this book from the start of her prednisone treatment. Maybe she should have interviewed and included other peoples stories of prednisone terror besides just her own. I read too many times in this book that "side effects vary from person to person". I don't recommend this book unless you want to hear the story of just one obviously prepared steroid user.

Rating:
Summary: Help available to those on Prednisone
Review: I cannot believe it has taken me so long to find this book. I am a long term prednisone user and am always looking for information about this drug, it's side effects and ways to cope with all those "things" prednosone does. The authors have compiled a wealth of information, including personal experiences, in a very concise easy to read book. (This in itself is signifacant to those of us with problems concentrating!) This book contains very accurate discriptions of the effects of long term prednisone use along with very practical advice on how to cope with the changes that occur. I could identify with many situations presented and found some very helpful advice. The advice is given by a prednosine user as well as a physician.

I would (and do) recommend this book to anyone beginning their treatment with prednosone, those who have been on prednisone and most of all to the family members and care givers of those on this "miracle" drug.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book! Full of need to know info. about Prednisone.
Review: I found the Zukerman's description well written and descriptive, but not very applicable to the general Prednisone user. She is a professional musician and television personality, so she was rightfully very concerned about her appearance changing because of the Prednisone. She radically changed her diet, almost completely eliminating salt and sugars, and closely monitoring her caloric intake, despite her ravenous appetite resulting from the drug. While this is an admirable ideal, it is somewhere between impractical to impossible to use this approach. She also described her personal struggle with the emotional and behavioral effects, but these effects vary so widely from person to person that, again, I found it mostly inapplicable.

Ingelfinger's medical information was just excellent. She was very frank in saying that there is precious little hard medical information about the side effects of Prednisone and other steriods, despite a veritable warehouse of information about their direct effects as an anti-inflammatory, anti-immune drug. This is refreshing and realistic, as most medical professionals would be hesitant to make a statement like this. The myriad positive effects of Prednisone are listed, and a partial list of diseases that are helped by is also here. The appendix of the book is loaded with tables of background information, technical/chemical descriptions, and other references. I learned a lot, and I can recommend this book most highly based just on this part of the book.

Rating:
Summary: Prednisone, Pemphigus and Me
Review: I have a rare, autoimmune disease called Pemphigus Vulgaris. When I was diagnosed I was placed on a high dose of prednisone in 1998 and I am still on prednisone to help keep my disease under control.

I knew nothing about my rare disease or about prednisone and found this book "Coping with Prednisone" which became my lifeline as to exactly what prednisone was, its side-effects and what I could do to help prevent many devastating side-effects of a drug that was to become my friend and my foe.

I still use it as my bible of information on prednisone and refer to it often, as new questions or problems arise. Although it isn't specifically written for my disease, I found it to be convenient to read and easy to refer to.

Actually, when I found the book was available on Amazon.com, I read a review here by someone else who had pemphigus and I contacted him via his email. I ordered my book and have never looked back.

I have come a long way since I bought this book back in 1998 and have become very knowlegeable about my disease and prednisone, including writing my own online newsletter about pemphigus.

So, I would highly recommend buying this book if you want to learn a lot about prednisone...no matter the disease or medical condition you may have that calls for you taking prednisone....especially if you have to take prednisone for more than a few months.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent source of information!
Review: I have been on Prednisone for almost 2 yrs. and I wish my Doctor had handed me this book 2 yrs. ago! It covers the side effects of this drug better than any other souce I have found. It also helped me understand that as I come off of using Prednisone that one is not instantly back to normal. I can certainly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, the Prednisone lights are on, but nobody really is home
Review: I was placed on a long-term treatment using Prednisone two years prior to the initial publication of this book to combat kidney disease. I had only wished that time would have been in my favor and I could have had this book in hand on the first day that I started the regiment. It discusses all those things that doctors don't quite like to scare you with before you begin. This is the story, written in the style of a journal or diary of one person's endurance of the drug and the side effects that she experienced. She also recommends several ways to handle or compromise with the harsh side effects of a very effective medicine.

I purchased this book for two reasons. First, I wanted to somehow validate the crazy experiences that I was having. Those undergoing the therapy feel very much alone with their experiences and have a difficult time recognizing its merits. The severe behavioral problems that evolve in the recipient of Prednisone or other cortocosteroids are under some very harsh criticism by peers and family who do not personally understand the very constant, real and aggravating side effects. It is somewhat comforting to know that these behavioral problems are not a figment of the imagination, as our peers and family may suggest. The author(s) do a superb job of discussing those behaviors and suggest ways to get around them.

The second reason that I wanted to browse this book was to read about any complications that I may encounter when the drug treatment was finally stopped. This subject was covered very lightly, but I got the general notion of what to expect and the time required. I was satisfied with what the author related and those observations seemed good, true and accurate.

Being that a person on strong doses of Prednisone is somewhat out of character, it was a good idea that the duo published this book after her experience was complete. We patients are somewhat mentally hyper-emotional while undergoing treatment and I feel that a complete evaluation of the use of Prednisone would have only been useful if written by someone in a normal and emotionally-balanced state of mind.

This book is especially good for parents who are desperately trying to understand the reasons for the behavior of one of their children who must undergo this treatment. I am not sure that friends, siblings or other family members would find it helpful in order to completely understand what friend, brother or sister is experiencing. They'd still chalk us off as being "out of our gourd!"

In summary, I recommend this book to all who question the drug and its use as a form of validation, comfort of understanding or help in recognizing what to expect. It may be the written form of a self-help group, and in some cases, a "how to" book for getting through it all.

Rating:
Summary: Yes, the Prednisone lights are on, but nobody really is home
Review: I was placed on a long-term treatment using Prednisone two years prior to the initial publication of this book to combat kidney disease. I had only wished that time would have been in my favor and I could have had this book in hand on the first day that I started the regiment. It discusses all those things that doctors don't quite like to scare you with before you begin. This is the story, written in the style of a journal or diary of one person's endurance of the drug and the side effects that she experienced. She also recommends several ways to handle or compromise with the harsh side effects of a very effective medicine.

I purchased this book for two reasons. First, I wanted to somehow validate the crazy experiences that I was having. Those undergoing the therapy feel very much alone with their experiences and have a difficult time recognizing its merits. The severe behavioral problems that evolve in the recipient of Prednisone or other cortocosteroids are under some very harsh criticism by peers and family who do not personally understand the very constant, real and aggravating side effects. It is somewhat comforting to know that these behavioral problems are not a figment of the imagination, as our peers and family may suggest. The author(s) do a superb job of discussing those behaviors and suggest ways to get around them.

The second reason that I wanted to browse this book was to read about any complications that I may encounter when the drug treatment was finally stopped. This subject was covered very lightly, but I got the general notion of what to expect and the time required. I was satisfied with what the author related and those observations seemed good, true and accurate.

Being that a person on strong doses of Prednisone is somewhat out of character, it was a good idea that the duo published this book after her experience was complete. We patients are somewhat mentally hyper-emotional while undergoing treatment and I feel that a complete evaluation of the use of Prednisone would have only been useful if written by someone in a normal and emotionally-balanced state of mind.

This book is especially good for parents who are desperately trying to understand the reasons for the behavior of one of their children who must undergo this treatment. I am not sure that friends, siblings or other family members would find it helpful in order to completely understand what friend, brother or sister is experiencing. They'd still chalk us off as being "out of our gourd!"

In summary, I recommend this book to all who question the drug and its use as a form of validation, comfort of understanding or help in recognizing what to expect. It may be the written form of a self-help group, and in some cases, a "how to" book for getting through it all.