• Effectiveness

  Major (for Crohn's disease)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (swelling in knees, roid rage effects (steroids), dry mouth, increased appetite)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Very hard to take

Advice & Tips: Prednisone works but there are reasons for why it's the drug of last resort for Crohn's Disease. It stiffened my joints, particularly my knees, and gave me a raging appetite I could not control. Significant weight gain was the result. My face became swollen, and I got a hump on my back. Altogether, prednisone works, but be prepared for the side effects.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: swelling in knees, increased appetite, roid rage effects (steroids), dry mouth

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for Crohn's disease)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (swelling in knees, roid rage effects (steroids), dry mouth, increased appetite)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Very hard to take

Dosage: 5 mg/5 mL Daily

Advice & Tips: Prednisone works, but the side effects are serious. Weight gain, binge eating, and facial swelling are all problems.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: swelling in knees, increased appetite, roid rage effects (steroids), dry mouth

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for Crohn's disease)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall) (swelling in knees, roid rage effects (steroids), dry mouth, increased appetite)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Somewhat hard to take

Dosage: 40 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: I hate prednisone. The side effects are killer. But it works.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: swelling in knees, increased appetite, roid rage effects (steroids), dry mouth

• Effectiveness

  Major (for percarditis)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 30 mg Daily

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for heart transplant)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Usually
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 2.5 mg Every other day

Advice & Tips: This medicine will make you very fat in the face. And if you are on a high dose, you will be extremely hungry.

Cost: < $25 monthly

• Effectiveness

  Can't tell (for heart transplant)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 6 x 5 mg/5 mL Daily

Advice & Tips: Was restless and gave me a lot of energy. Always had to do something around the house. As dosage was tapered so were the side effects.

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for multiple sclerosis)
• Effectiveness

  Major (for pain)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall) (stomach discomfort)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  A little hard to take

Dosage: 10 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: It releaved my extreme back pain

Side effects: stomach discomfort

• Effectiveness

  Major (for granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's))
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (irritability, weight gain, fluid retention weight gain, constant hunger, insomnia (less than 2 hours sleep))
• Adherence

  Usually
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 20 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: Do research yourself on how to wean off of prednisone or any steroid. My doc's orders did not seem to be complete, for coming down from higher doses all the way to nothing. At 15mg, your body will react badly if you do not moderate the dosage (a lower one than you have been coming down from. If, say, you've been coming down by 5 or 2.5mg a week, at 15mg you need to come down slower or you could suffer severe and even life-threatening withdrawal. You need to be sure your body is now making cortisol itself in sufficient quantities -- I was told none of this -- and there is even a test for this: ask for the "ACTH" test. If you get sicker when coming weaning down, do the research to check to see if you're possibly coming down too fast. Call your doc & request the test. You may even want to go up a little on your dosage, and come down more slowly, until you get in to the office to be seen.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: irritability, weight gain, fluid retention weight gain, insomnia (less than 2 hours sleep), constant hunger

• Effectiveness

  Major (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Side effects

  Mild (for Overall) (facial swelling/puffiness)
• Adherence

  Sometimes
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 5 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: I HAD NO PROBLEM TAKING THE TABLETS APART FROM THEM TASTING DISGUSTING. PREDNISONE HELPED BY TAKING SOME OF THE INFLAMATION AWAY THEREFORE I WASN'T IN AS MUCH PAIN. THE ONLY PROBLEM OR SIDE EFFECT THAT I HAD WAS THAT I GAINED WEIGHT & MY FACE BLOW UP LIKE A PUFFER FISH & LOOKED VERY ROUND. I WAS ON PREDNISONE FOR YEARS WELL SINCE 2007 & IT WAS A GREAT INFLAMATORY BUT I HAVE RECENTLY BEEN CHANGED TO METHOTREXATE WHICH IS A STEP UP FROM PREDNISONE & ONLY TO BE TAKEN ONCE A WEEK INSTEAD OF EVERY DAY. I AM ON HEAPS OF TABLETS MORNING NOON & NIGHT SO I DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS OR WAS PUT OUT FOR TAKING THESE TABLETS. THEY ARE A VERY TINY TABLET SO THEY WON'T GET STUCK IN YOUR THROAT.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: facial swelling/puffiness

• Effectiveness

  Moderate (for Duchenne muscular dystrophy)
• Side effects

  Moderate (for Overall) (mood swings)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 15 mg Daily

Advice & Tips: WE changed to deflazacort because of a perception that there were behavioral problems with the prednisone. No big changes in behavior with the change from prednisone to deflazacort.

Cost: < $25 monthly

Side effects: mood swings

• Effectiveness

  Major (for systemic lupus erythematosus)
• Side effects

  Severe (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

• Effectiveness

  Can't tell (for multiple sclerosis)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 5 mg Daily

• Effectiveness

  Major (for multiple sclerosis)
• Side effects

  None (for Overall)
• Adherence

  Always
• Burden

  Not at all hard to take

Dosage: 50 mg Daily