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Questions and Answers
- Q
- Again, thank you for your response to my earlier questions. As a reminder, I
am a 61 year old male diagnosed with PMR in Sept of this year. I have been
decresing my daily intake of Prednisone each week from a high of 30 mg to a
current 17.5mg at, 2.5mg intervals. I heard recently that there is a safer
substitute for Prednisone available in Canada and Europe called "Butesonide"/
Is this effective and available? If so, how can I obtain some? What is the
status in the USA?
thank you. I look forward to your response.
- A
- Hi -sorry for delay in responding ... the drug I think you're
referring to is BUDESONIDE not Butesonide (threw me for a loop for a while!)
... like prednisone it is a synthetic analogue of corticosteroid, but used
as topical antiinflammatory agent and as a nasal spray for the treatment of
rhinitis and asthma. Essentially all synthetic derivatives of cortisol,
including prednisone, share its undesirable side-effects (except sodium
retention) at therapeutic concentrations ... the only benefit of budesonide
is its availability when used topically for appropriate indications. I'm
sorry, but your anecdotal accounts are incorrect.
Best wishes of the season.