Steroids have both long term and short term side effects. The long term side effects can happen after 1 use or many uses. Some of the long term side effects are:

Cataracts
Glaucoma
Cushings Disease
Diabetes
Aseptic necrosis
Osteoporosis

The more you use steroids the less effective they will become. Steroids can be helpful and sometimes necessary but steroids DO come with risks.

I have had 5 exacerbations and have only used steroids for 2 of them and the other 3 I waited out. I prefer not using steroids if at all possble.

volada, I have two canes...I hate canes. If I use anything for balance and mobility I prefer to use Trekking Poles.

Hi Ya Snoopie..

Hey Sally!

i can't speak to the steroids. i've thankfully never needed them.
plus i'm a diabetic and they send my blood sugar soaring. even a small amt of roids from back injections will affect me.

i can't be without my cane anymore. i don't need it inside my house but outside need it. it also "tells" people that i'm not steady and to be careful.
when you buy the cane the person will tell you how to use it.

let's say it's your left leg that is off balance. when you put your left foot out you put the cane out and so on.

i also have become fond of an ergonomic cane. it's handle is wider and conforms to your hand. since i can put a lot of weight on my right hand it helps disperse the weight and my hand/wrist doesn't hurt so much. i got mine on-line at Fashionable Canes. it cost more but to me it's worth it.

have fun on your trip.

Anyone know why/how steroid effects would become less effective with use? I don't why the body wouldn't return back to as it was after a month or 2 like when quitting hormones.

Don't know why, just know that for most, not all, peeps, it only works well the first time you do IVSM, then it just doesn't????

Maybe if you would have more time between doses....more than a year???

Hi EddieF,

Like Sally, I am not sure why steroids quit working but, unfortunately, it does happen Steroids help inflammation and might help to shorten the length of a relapse but steroids do not change the outcome or course of the disease.

I have had two high dose rounds of steroids about 5 and 6 years ago respectively. Both times caused havoc with my body, gave me fuzzy vision, high blood pressure, lost weight when I was underweight at the time, had to have insulin injections while in the hospital, the list of side effects was quite long. A year after these treatments, I stumbled getting out of my car and broke a small bone in my left foot. Turns out I had developed osteopenia, a precursor to osteoporosis. I had been taking Avonex during those steroid treatments.

After the 2nd treatment, I spent a night in intensive care from high blood pressure and chest pains.

Now, I'm taking Copaxone, have been for almost 4 years total and I don't even get relapses anymore. I won't touch steroids now unless the symptoms are life threatening. I'm 53 years old now and this all started in my early 40s. I hope this is the last time you'll need steroids.

I work full time now and go to online school at night. I no longer need the cane and only needed it during that time that I was taking Avonex and for a short time taking Rebif.

Everyone's different surely applies here. I was 38ish the 1 time I had IVSM & it actually helped clear my vision a bit however, I remember saying to last neuro it might've been pressure behind or in? my eye which of course he didn't think to check for. Blood psi was no problem at all, I ate like crazy, maybe had a slightly shorter fuse for a week, and gave me tons of energy. The only downside was taste- everything tasted bad for the week.

Last month I took a medrol dose pack which was my 2nd time this yr and actually, it didn't help as much (swam 60 laps 1 day though) or make me as hungry as the 1st time I took the dose pack 3 months prior hmm. Or would I be worse had I not taken it? MS sucks thats's the bottom line. I too have both osteo's but density actually improved a bit since I took dose pack & IVSM. Vitamin D & testosterone are to thank for that 1. Study it. It's the main reason (I believe) why bones get weaker and of course muscles lose mass.

I do not know how to use this site yet - so bear with me.

Does anyone know what a dose pack is?