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Ask the Doctor
About Getting Off Steroid Drugs
By Tom Cowan, MD
Question: I am taking prednisone for a health condition
but do not like the side effects. What do you think about taking adrenal
cortex extract instead and which brand do you recommend?
Answer: Let me widen your question a bit to make it
more general for our readers. That is, what is the best approach to
weaning one's self from the long-term use of prednisone and other steroid
drugs? Interestingly, about 10-20 percent of the new patients who come
to see me have this very concern. These can be people with a wide variety
of complaints from asthma (steroid inhalers), rheumatoid arthritis (often
maintained on long-term prednisone), colitis (usually they are using
cortisone enemas), skin rashes (usually long-term topical cortisone
preparations), polymyalgia rheumatica, lupus, many kidney diseases,
and so on.
The initial reaction of these patients to the use of these medicines
was nothing short of miraculous--pains vanish, bloody diarrhea
clears up, and difficult skin problems melt away. Unfortunately, for
most people this is the classic Faustian bargain. For within a short
time, not only do the original symptoms return, necessitating higher
doses, but the side effects of cortisone begin to show up.
The side effects of cortisone, prednisone, and similar drugs are legendary.
They include diabetes, osteoporosis, edema of the face, mood swings,
stomach ulcers and, very importantly, adrenal suppression. In other
words, your own adrenal glands shut off their production of these valuable
hormones. Why not, since they essentially have been "told" by the prednisone
that the adrenals are no longer needed. This bargain, then, becomes
a nightmare as the effectiveness of the drugs wears off, side effects
become more serious and the patient is unable to stop taking the medication.
Of all the tragic situations I have dealt with in my practice, this
all-too-common occurrence stands at the top of the list.What are we
to do? The first answer is to recognize that by definition, if a certain
condition will improve with the use of cortisone, then somewhere in
its etiology must be an adrenal weakness. That this fact is denied by
the medical profession does not make it less true. Therefore, for any
condition that is treated in normal medicine with steroid drugs like
prednisone or cortisone we should instead be strengthening the adrenal
glands.
To do this, we refer to some basic physiology. First, we are dealing
with the adrenal cortex, not the medulla (which makes adrenaline). The
hormones that the adrenal cortex makes are all derived from our best
friend--cholesterol. Yes, cholesterol is the precursor to all the
valuable adrenal hormones that help us deal with stress, inflamation
and trauma, and that help our body to heal. Therefore adrenal insufficiency
(lack of adrenal cortical hormones) is a fat deficiency. So the first
step is simple and logical: eat more fat, especially cholesterol-rich
animal fat. One of these fats should be cod liver oil to supply vitamin
A. The adrenal cortex cannot make adrenal hormones out of cholesterol
without vitamin A.
Second, adrenal cortical hormones that control inflammation and other
metabolic events are in the class of chemicals called glucocorticoids;
their primary function is to regulate sugar balance. You will make their
job much much easier if you don't eat any simple sugar and limit your
total daily carbohydrate consumption to 75 grams per day. (Read Life
Without Bread by Wolfgang Lutz for more information on this.)
Third, cut back on caffeine and caffeine-related substances (such as
the bromine in tea) as much as possible. Caffeine works by stimulating
the adrenal medulla to produce adrenaline. Then the adrenal cortex must
work doubly hard to produce the "chill out" cortisoid hormones.
Fourth, the two major nutrients the adrenal cortex needs to do its
job are vitamin B6 and vitamin C. These should be obtained from food
sources or whole food supplements. One good source of all three of these
vital nutrients is raw milk, which is probably why raw milk fasts have
successfully treated many cortisone-related illnesses. Drenamin from
Standard Process Laboratories combines these nutrients along with the
adrenal protomorphogen to help stimulate the rebuilding of the organ.
The beginning dose is 3 tablets 3 times per day.
With many patients, even with hard work on diet and supplements it
is still difficult to wean off the prednisone, especially the last 2-5
mg. In these cases I do use an adrenal cortex extract from American
Biologics For some, it is the only thing that works. Usually 2-3 drops
per day is enough, but often we need to double this amount. I usually
keep this going for 6 weeks after the prednisone has been stopped to
avoid relapses. All the time during this treatment the diet and Standard
Process supplements should continue.
A final word. The adrenal gland is the processor of stress in our bodies.
It is there to help us adapt. When we become exhausted by life, on a
mental or physical level, our adrenal glands often fail to keep up,
and illness ensues.
I define stress as anything that forces us to live contrary to what
our inner guide is telling us is right for us. I want to emphasize that
we need to follow our inner guide--not our parents, not the church,
not our culture, not government nor anyone or anything else. So many
people with adrenal illnesses live a life of "should." To me, that is
stress. In our comprehensive approach to illness this aspect of our
health must be considered as vitally important.
About the Author
 Thomas
Cowan, MD, is a physician in private practice in San Francisco, California,
a board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and a regular contributor
to our "Ask the Doctor" column. His book The Fourfold Path to
Healing is now available from NewTrends Publishing, http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/.
Visit Dr. Cowan's website at http://www.fourfoldhealing.com.
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