What is considered long term prednisone use?

Researching the bad side effects of prednisone it is always described as "long term" use. What exactly is considered long term prednisone use and at what doseage?

Is starting at 50mg and working through a taper for 4 months considered long term, or is long term more like 10mg to 50mg everyday for a year or more considered long term?

I was on pred for about 4 months and am trying to figure out how much permanent long term damage I did to my body?

I have been on and off for a year and a half and I am 31, so I hope I am not doing too much damage!

4 months is considered long term red use.

Sue

This is not an easy question to answer, from what I understand, it also depends on the age and 'total condition' of the subject.

For (otherwise) healthy subjects, more than 1 year will be considered as a long term use but for a frail, elderly, even 3 months could be long term because the 'damage' caused by Pred may outweigh the benefit.

I am on and off Pred for more than a year and now on Pred since Christmas, till be another 8 weeks before the course finishes, so IMO it is long term use.

Again, if you are healthy otherwise and taking care of Pred side effects by supplementing Vit D and Calcium plus regular exercise, the damage caused can be minimized (again, this statement does not take into account the overall health/condition of the subject, purely theoretical comment)

The person who gave me my bone density test said 4 months is longer term. I had been on 3 separate 1 month Pred tapers (40 mg with 10 mg step down) over an 8 month period and then had to go on a 7 month Pred course (100 mg start) to get rid of drug induced bullous pemphigoid. Dr. at MGH in Boston suggested I get a bone density test based on the # times I'd been on Pred. I was 57 at the time. My PCP agreed and the test showed very mild osteopenia in my neck. She suggested I take 1500 mg of calcium and 800 IU of D3 daily and will retest me in 2 yrs. She said, once I was off the Pred and at my age/health and with taking the calcium, it should reverse itself. Hoping that happens. I had weight gain (about 10 lbs) which took about 2 1/2 months to get rid of. The other key side effect to look for is cataracts - vision will start to have cloudy spots, If that happens, get our eyes checked.

My primary doctor was in shock when I had told him that I had been on prednisone for 4 months and that I was still tapering for the next 6-8 weeks. He sent me straight away to another GI for a second opinion. However, my 2nd GI was not surprised at all because this is the typical course of treating someone with a bad flare. Both my GI's are associated with Mount Sinai in NY which is the #5 hospital for Gasteroenterology. They both felt that some people are more sensitive to the side effects of prednisone and they need to be careful about staying on it for long periods of time or multiple treatments. Pred was my miracle drug when I was first diagnosed and within days at 60mg my symptoms cleared up. Currently I am on predisone for the first time since diagnosis and it took a full 8-12 weeks to get down to 1 BM a day. Each time I taper I have withdrawl symptoms. I too have a love/hate relationship with this drug!

5 minutes is TOO long !

ok- I posted earlier about osteoporosis and pred use. At 37 due to pred I had osteoporosis diagnosis but after 3 years was able to reverse taking 800mg calcium citrate and weight lifting. My doctor still orders DXA every 3 years and this is covered by insurance using "prednisone therapy" as the reason. After initial dx of osteoporosis had DXA every year for about 7 years. Just went to lecture at univ. med school where they said 800 mg was good and issues with taking too much but that might be long term taking too much. All of you taking pred for 4 months + PLEASE ask for DXA scan as well. One other thing that occurs is prednisone increases ocular pressure so have a routine eye exam to test for that. This can damage your optic nerve. I HATE prednisone and this is why when I was flaring badly I decided to go with nicotine patch and not pred, and the nicotine is working very well for me. (other posts on nicotine use by several people ) You guys are just too young to have this dx- but I DO think you can reverse it with some work!