Intro:
This is my 5th year of living with UC. In the last 3-4 years, I read & tried numerous different remedies that worked for others. I experienced a couple of remissions with each new one lasting longer than the previous one. Will the next one be long term?
Prednisone or Prednisolone Steroids and Calcium
Just a disclaimer: This is just my opinion, I’m not a licensed physician and you should consult your doctor for medical advice when it comes to treating your condition.
After reading numerous user stories on this site of steroid use to control major flare-ups of Ulcerative Colitis, I felt compelled to write and recommend a few simple things that you can do to lower your chance of osteoporosis caused by steroid use.
First of all, at the risk of being super obvious, your #1 goal should be to get healthy and stop bleeding so nice hard pipes can follow. Sometimes that requires drastic measures, like the use of steroids. Steroids should not be used as a maintenance plan for controlling colitis as these drugs have many bad side-effects, one of them being osteoporosis – loss of bone density. It’s OK to use steroids in emergencies to stabilize your condition but it’s not a long-term solution.
Steroids drain your body of calcium and your body relies on the stores of calcium in your bones to replace what steroids take away. So your body will draw on Calcium stored in your bones. Ask your doctor about this if you haven’t discussed it with her or him yet.
It is important that you take Calcium (supplements if you cannot provide it in your diet) and Vitamin D while you are on steroids. Studies have shown that Vitamin D helps with absorption of Calcium. It’s better to take smaller doses of Calcium throughout the day rather than one large dose once a day. Your body cannot absorb large amounts of Calcium all at once.
Do you take Calcium and Vitamin D supplements?
Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements from Amazon.com
Happy pooping! :)
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written by “The Bird”
Submitted in the Colitis Venting Area
All of the posts from “Annonymous UC” are from ulcerative colitis people who anonymously submitted stories or Doctor Reviews, medication, supplement reviews etc… I post all these stories to the site, but they’re different from my own personal stories so hopefully this account makes more sense:) -Adam – founder of iHaveUC.com
