Corticosteroid question.
 

No Mark, corticosteroids such as Prednisolone/Prednisone, Dexamethasone and Hydrocortisone are catabolic steroids, not anabolic steroids. Catabolic steroids tend to break down muscle - not build it up.

The kind of steroids you are talking about, like prednisone, are not the ones implicated in building muscle or causing rages. Those are anabolic steroids. Sorry -- no big muscles.

I was just asking so I could maybe weight train to keep off any weight gain if I was put on a course of Prednisolone/Prednisone.

Well, Prednisone does make you hungry, that is for sure... And if you do gain, it all goes right to your middle...

Cathie

steroids
 

deplete
potassium
calcium
magnesium
zinc
Vit C
Vit D
selenium

Some of the weight gain is fluid retention. They can elevate blood pressure,
cause gastric bleeding, depression, bone loss, increased infections, thinning of hair and skin.

It is very tough to get off them, to normalize again. So whatever improvement you expect, you may inherit alot woes you don't want.

But if they do work then at least it gives some indication of whats going on,doesn't it...?

yes, in the short run...
 

they are not really too harmful.

Steroids in general make people FEEL better, and at one time they were used willy nilly because of this. That is how the data were gathered on them and their effects.

Any inflammatory process including autoimmune will show symptom improvement at least at first. Then the body accomodates to the steroids, and some of that symptom relief may be lost.
The endocrine system is complex and run by a feedback loop. When you take hormones, your body shuts off production of pituitary hormones which run your glands. It shuts them off. So when you go off the steroids, you have to taper, and hopefully return to what you were before.

Some arthritis therapies today use very low dose steroids...like 2.5mg every other day...or pulsed ones, high dose every other day, etc. Especially for the elderly who may have bone issues.

If you see increased symptoms with stress, you can assume you have some inflammatory component in your PN. It may be autoimmune involving antibodies attacking, or just inflammatory cytokines which are chemical.
Other things that work like steroids are fish oil. This specifically reduces inflammatory cytokine production, and also improving your omega-3 to 6 ratio will improve it. Too much omega-6's fuel PGE2 cytokine production. So diet changes and fish oil can accomplish alot. High sugar intake also shifts cytokine production to the inflammatory side-- high insulin does this.

Thanks for that information, now I know that there probably is some sort of inflammation going on. I think I am going to ask my doctor to go on a short course next time I see them. Would a 'short course' of steroids mean a week or two?

a week or two is a short course.
 

And also steroids block allergic responses too.

So that includes:
autoimmune (antibody complexes)
simple inflammation (that is not autoimmune)
allergic responses (including foods and inhalants, and contact with skin, insect bites, drugs, etc)

What sort of dose of Prednisone would be needed for a short term course just to see if it made any difference to the neuropathy symptoms...