Sometimes steroids have to be used long term. They helped save my greyhounds life when she suddenly developed an autoimmune disease and had to be on the maximum dose for her size of 75mg a day, the usual tablet is 5mg. She was on them at various doses for well over a year. She had 2 other meds to try to minimise the damage they do. Over 2 yrs on she is fit and healthy with no apparent side effects although we are aware that she is at higher risk now of certain cancers and liver disease but for now I'm incredibly grateful for them and the immuno-suppressants that saved her.
She didn't develop huge muscles! but she did have a nightmare appetite and thirst but given that she lost 1/4 of her body weight in the first 2 weeks despite eating and her muscles just went, she looked like an abuse case the appetite was a good thing.
I agree I was just not sure I would have kept Duncan going on them if I had realised the prolonged weekend of torture he had at the end. They certainly gave him a quality of life he wouldn't have had without them.
Must admit, I didn't originally intend to suggest all steroids were bad.
It was just the idea of deliberately "bulking up" dogs, using food supplements and, allegedly, steroids to make them look "ripped".
That just seems utterly self-indulgent to me.
It's kinda like taking a Ferrari and putting honking great wheels and bull-bars on it cos you like the way off-roaders look whereas, in reality, all you've done is f**k up a perfectly good Ferrari and created something which isn't actually much use.
FWIW, I once got a really bad skin infection as a result of wading around in mud with a lot of clay in it.
Went to the doctors and he prescribed steroid pills and creams.
I got this giant tub of pills and the instructions were to take thirty a day for the first 3 days and then reduce the number of pills each day and then stop when the infection cleared up.
Tell you what; I was seriously concerned about taking so many pills each day.
I took the prescribed dose for the first couple of days and they really did do a very good job of clearing up the infection but, once it was under control, I dialled the pills right back to a couple a day - just enough to prevent it becoming inflamed again - and allowed it to heal naturally.
Seems like having that much medication swilling around in your system can't be an entirely good thing.
Gosh that's a big dose I have to take them when I go into anaphylaxis with allergic reactions. Luckily I am careful so doesn't happen too often and I take 12 when it happens along with my epipens and 12 antihistamine tablets and that always feels like a lot.
Gosh that's a big dose I have to take them when I go into anaphylaxis with allergic reactions. Luckily I am careful so doesn't happen too often and I take 12 when it happens along with my epipens and 12 antihistamine tablets and that always feels like a lot.
Uhuh,
At the time I had huge, bleeding, blistering, patches of sores all over my body and after 2 days they were reduced to just red patches of skin and I recall thinking that anything which can make such a dramatic change to a human body in 2 days must be some seriously heavy-duty medication.
Don't mean to sound all "Ooooh! Witchcraft!!" about it but, as I say, I just didn't like the idea of having that much of any chemical in my body.
Sounds nasty glad the medication worked ! I had chemo for while when I had breast cancer so I do understand what you are saying that knocked so many of my good cells for six but it did cure me so it's a fine line I guess between poisoning ourselves and health.
Comments
She didn't develop huge muscles! but she did have a nightmare appetite and thirst but given that she lost 1/4 of her body weight in the first 2 weeks despite eating and her muscles just went, she looked like an abuse case the appetite was a good thing.
It was just the idea of deliberately "bulking up" dogs, using food supplements and, allegedly, steroids to make them look "ripped".
That just seems utterly self-indulgent to me.
It's kinda like taking a Ferrari and putting honking great wheels and bull-bars on it cos you like the way off-roaders look whereas, in reality, all you've done is f**k up a perfectly good Ferrari and created something which isn't actually much use.
FWIW, I once got a really bad skin infection as a result of wading around in mud with a lot of clay in it.
Went to the doctors and he prescribed steroid pills and creams.
I got this giant tub of pills and the instructions were to take thirty a day for the first 3 days and then reduce the number of pills each day and then stop when the infection cleared up.
Tell you what; I was seriously concerned about taking so many pills each day.
I took the prescribed dose for the first couple of days and they really did do a very good job of clearing up the infection but, once it was under control, I dialled the pills right back to a couple a day - just enough to prevent it becoming inflamed again - and allowed it to heal naturally.
Seems like having that much medication swilling around in your system can't be an entirely good thing.
Uhuh,
At the time I had huge, bleeding, blistering, patches of sores all over my body and after 2 days they were reduced to just red patches of skin and I recall thinking that anything which can make such a dramatic change to a human body in 2 days must be some seriously heavy-duty medication.
Don't mean to sound all "Ooooh! Witchcraft!!" about it but, as I say, I just didn't like the idea of having that much of any chemical in my body.