Coronavirus 😷 & Prednisone 💊 Side Effects

This is another article discussing Prednisone and Coronavirus. Discover the overlap between coronavirus symptoms and prednisone side effects. Find the surprising thing no one is mentioning…

Learn to determine the difference between symptoms and have yourself an additional gear to combat the virus!

Coronavirus & Prednisone Side Effects

I’m Dr. Megan, the Prednisone Pharmacist. I, like you, am surprised every day by how the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is affecting our daily lives. It seems like just a week ago it was unheard of that we would shut down anything, let alone schools and churches and football games and basketball games. But not only that, the stock market is shut down pretty much. They keep pausing it. Coronavirus is important to understand and to take measures. To comprehend how prednisone and Coronavirus are related, I made a video last week about what you should know about the two. This week I’m going to dive in deeper to side effects specifically about prednisone.

Following with that video last week, today we’re going to talk about who is at risk for Coronavirus, and discuss the top symptoms of those who are at risk. Then we’re going to talk about prednisone side effects and compare the side effects to the symptoms. Finally, we’ll talk about support. This is based on the resources from the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, and Clinical Pharmacology, the most reliable drug reference for pharmacists and doctors today, and finally the Natural Medicines database.

Who is at risk?

According to the CDC, and based on what they’ve seen of people who’ve been affected and infected, those who are at risk for poor outcomes are those with heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease. And especially those who are older and have all of these, or any of these.

Differentiate Covid Symptoms from Prednisone Side Effects

What’s interesting is prednisone side effects. Some of the top side effects include heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease. These overlap completely and so, if you are having those prednisone side effects about heart disease, diabetes, or lung disease, then this is what you need to pay attention to today.

Heart

First of all, talking about prednisone and the heart. The research shown that prednisone causes a four times higher risk for high blood pressure. Another word for that is hypertension. 30% of people taking prednisone have hypertension as a side effect. It also causes high cholesterol or hyperlipidemia. Finally, the risk for heart disease like a heart attack or a stroke, is 2.56 times greater if you’re taking prednisone, than if you’re not.

Diabetes

What about diabetes? One of the main characteristics of prednisone is that it is a glucocorticoid. Gluco meaning sugar, meaning it’s changing how your body responds to sugar in your blood. That can lead to high blood sugar. The high blood sugar can directly lead to weight gain. All of this combines to lead to a four times greater risk to have diabetes if you’re taking prednisone.

Lungs

What about the lungs? A documented side effect of prednisone is shortness of breath. This is not very common, like the hypertension or the diabetes, but it does happen. What is more concerning is the pneumonia. Prednisone causes a five times greater risk for pneumonia, than if you hadn’t taken it. I also made a video about who should not take prednisone. According to research from the well-respected journal, The Lancet, last fall, people should not take prednisone just for pneumonia, because it actually leads to worse outcomes and even potentially greater risk of death.

Coronavirus is worst

Putting that all altogether, the Coronavirus is worst in people with heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease. Prednisone side effects cause heart disease, diabetes, and lung disease. If you are suffering from those side effects, then you need to take extreme precautions when it comes to taking care of your immune system, and social distancing and washing hands.

Nutrient Deficiency

The other thing that’s interesting is how prednisone causes nutrient deficiency. Depletion of nutrients is like when you drive your car, what happens to your gas tank. You use up all of the nutrients or the gas in your tank, and you’ve run out. Prednisone causes that to happen faster. It’s like somebody’s got the accelerator on a faster rate than normal and so you’re depleting all of these very vital nutrients when you take prednisone. The most important ones include calcium and vitamin D and Chromium. Those ones are the ones most dramatically depleted.

10 Nutrients Prednisone Depletes Side Effects

Calcium and vitamin D are related to weight gain and osteoporosis. We’re going to go right, clockwise around the circle. Chromium is related to the high blood sugar, and Chromium is vital for keeping the steady amounts of sugar in your blood. When you don’t have Chromium, like when you take prednisone, your blood sugar can fluctuate and get really high.

Prednisone is an Immunosuppressant

Then we’re going to skip down to Zinc and selenium at the bottom. Depletion of those makes it harder to heal wounds and can be related to thyroid dysfunction. Then the next one is vitamin A and C. When those are low, there can be immune dysfunction. Many people are aware that prednisone is an immunosuppressant. When all of these perfect storm is happening, all of these things are low and then sodium is high, leading to high blood pressure, that makes you at high risk for complications of Coronavirus.

I’m going to change the topic a little bit. I don’t want to claim anything about Coronavirus from here on out. By going thru all of these, are you equipped enough for the battle?

The ANSWER …

When I took prednisone, I wished there was something that could help me. I felt miserable. I gained weight. I couldn’t sleep and I really struggled. So I created this supplement, called Nutranize® Zone™. It’s specially formulated for people on prednisone to reduce your suffering, replenish your body and recover from prednisone. What’s awesome about it is it contains 100% of the daily value of Zinc and vitamin C.

Nutranize Zone is on sale at Nutranize.com. That’s my way of trying to help people who are suffering at this time.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I am Dr. Megan, your Prednisone Pharmacist, and I’m here to help you at this time of uncertainty.