Prednisone- our story made public.

Doctors and I have never seen eye to eye. Now let me tell you of yet another experience of mine that adds a strike against them in my book: 

It started a number of months ago when I had a horrible reaction to poison ivy. My face was so swollen I couldn't even see out of one eye! The itching was unbearable so I went against my better judgement and listened to someone who told me that I could just go to the walk in clinic and get a shot for the allergic reaction. It seemed simple enough, so I went. 

For whatever reason, when I had talked with them about nursing, they never brought up a shot, but  told me that I should take a weeks supply of Prednisone instead. Claiming it was "safer" and a "category C" medication. Not being schooled in all the terms, I didn't know what that meant, so after getting home, I foolishly just "turned a blind eye" to my nagging conscience, literally, and took it, for the whole week. My symptoms went away as promised, and I thought no more about it, as no side effects seemed to show up. Now months later, as my 20 month old's teeth are growing out, I notice he has a line on all of his big teeth that seems to be the end of his enamel! For one brief second I thought I should have brushed his teeth more, but then looking closer realized it was all of the front big ones in a neat line. . .that is not natural! So I called up a dentist, and the first question they asked was "Were you taking any medication while pregnant or nursing?" 

Thinking back to that poison ivy episode, I had to answer "yes". Now, I realized I had been a sucker, and hurt my baby, but I still wondered why I wasn't told. So I looked up what the drug was, and it's category, and what that meant.

  On the FDA's website they say: " . . Pregnancy Category C," which means that they have not been studied in pregnant women.  However, Pregnancy Category C does NOT mean the drug cannot be used in pregnant women.  Pregnant women can and should receive a category C drug when the possible benefits of using the drug are more likely than the possible risk of harm to the woman or her baby."

I don't put much stock in anything the FDA says, much less the Pharmaseudical companies, or the doctors "in their back pockets". So I wanted to look up what real people were finding out for themselves about the drug Prednisone. Here is a compilation of some of the comments I was able to find online: 

"According to the National Library of Medicine, side effects of prednisone include vertebral compression fractures (fracture of your back bones), stunted growth in children. . ."

"Medications That Can Cause Bone Loss

Use of corticosteroids, such as prednisone, and antiepileptic drugs, can lead to the loss of
 bone that supports your teeth."

 "It’s also possible to develop osteoporosis when on prednisone for long periods of time, and the medication has been shown to cause poor growth or stunted growth in kids who are on it long-term."

"Has anyone else had teeth problems because of prednisone?"

 "Wow...funny; you should say that...I was in the hospital nov 1st to 6th, and on very high doses of
 IV steroids. 

   Since that hospital stay,  I have had the WORST tooth sensitivity.   Just breathing in will hurt.  I
order all my drinks in restaurants with no ice, and leave all my drinks out of the fridge.   I figured
 its the steroids (what bad side effect ISN"T the steroids?)     I am currently tapering, and was hoping
 the tooth sensitivity would improve after being off the steroids.   You think it might be permanent????
  YIKES! now I'm freaking out!"

"My dentist told me I have hypo-calcification and that I need to use ACT mouth wash. That was
about 6 or 8 months ago. I never had a doctor tell me in my life that I had hypo-calcifacation. You're
 making me paranoid that it might be the prednisone now."

" I had pretty much perfect teeth - only one or two cavities - until I was diagnosed with UC and

 had been on a couple of extended rounds of high dose pred. After that, I began to get soft spots
and cavities pretty often. One tooth was so bad, it had to be crowned and I've got another that's
cracked that we're keeping an eye on. I've had people tell me this is normal as you get older,
 but I disagree. My brother is almost five years older than I am and still doesn't have a cavity in
his mouth. It only makes sense if pred causes bone loss, it would affect your teeth, too."

" I noticed tartar seemed to build up faster, too since I started taking Pred (8th week) my teeth are
 VERY SENSITIVE to anything cold, especially my front teeth."

"Oh yes, when I started on Pred, in just a week or two, my teeth became extremely sensitive to
anything cold, even mild water out of the tap...I'm finally off of pred, first time in close to 8 months...
My teeth are still very sensitive...I wonder if that will go away?? I'm down to 15mg and I'm getting
 off this stuff, flaring or not."

 "I also am having the teeth problem too :("

"Yes - the pred resulted in major tooth sensitivity for me. It took a long time for my teeth to return 
to "normal". 

"Currently tapering off Prednisone (have been on for 9 weeks) and at 20mg/daily. Experiencing tooth
 sensitivity for about 1 week now - out of the blue and very sensitive to cold."

"Yes, 2.5 years on varying doses of pred left me with very sensitive teeth. More than anything I think
 time has improved the situation. I am 8 years out from my last pred dose and the tooth sensitivity is
 almost a thing of the past. I still get ocassional bouts but they are less in severity and don't last as 
long. Sensitive teeth is a known side effect of Prednisone. My teeth are still sensitive but not nearly
as bad as when I'm on Pred."

"My dentist thought I was crazy that my gums had receded so bad because of the Pred.  Teeth are
 a little different from bone in their structure. Bone tissue is constantly being rebuilt over a lifetime, 
which is why bone loss is common with long-term prednisone use. Suddenly the amount of bone 
being built is less than bone being destroyed. Tooth enamel, once formed, doesn't rebuild itself 
over a lifetime. You can strengthen enamel. . . but once formed (around birth and just after for 
most permanent teeth), it doesn't readily rebuild itself. This is why you get cavities in your teeth,
 but you don't get "cavities" in your bones. (your bones can heal; enamel, in most cases, can't.)"

(In this guys opinion he sees the damage as permanent, but I

believe the information found in a good diet -called "Cure Tooth Decay"- that it's possible to

rebuild both enamel and bones.)

"That being said, prednisone is absolutely, definitely, a contributor in tooth decay, especially if it's used over the long term. "

"My teeth became sensitive to anything cold when I was nearing the end of my three-month Prednisone treatment. Two years later, they aren't nearly as sensitive. I've been taking calcium supplements for years
Once again a reminder - if you're on pred, take your calcium!!!"

"Has anyone tried the new mouthwashes that are supposed to help deposit minerals back in your teeth? ACT is the one that comes to mind...
stupid prednisone!"

"After several years of remission, the decay seems to have slowed or stopped, much to my relief. I've been on steroids for 4 years continously now. I was declared steroid dependent years ago." 

"I have had terrible problems with my teeth and gums but I attributed that to the azathioprine?  Always bleeding throughout the day, etc. Maybe it's the pred.  I go to the dentist often and floss all the time, not much else I can do."

" I was diganosed with UC at the age of 17 and was put on a high does of predisone because nothing else worked.I was on and off it for almost two years.The 2nd time I was on it I noticed strange things happening to my teeth,brown spots forming on them which was clearly decay.What's sad is right before I got sick with UC I had my braces taken off and my teeth had never looked better."


"Things got worse even though I was going to the dentist all the time.They would fill in my teeth/bond them and a month later some random tooth would start breaking apart/they were crumbling apart *the stuff of nightmares* or I would need a root canal.The dentists *it was a team of two* I went to said the predisone had stripped my teeth of all it's calcium/protection.
It was hopeless,scary and painful till after 4 years of not being able to stop it,they sent me to a cosmectic dentist who completely shaved down all my teeth and capped them all with Porcelain veneers,which cost a darn fortune. Ive only had to have a couple of root canals in my teeth since ive been going to him and it's seemed to stop the decay because he bascially got rid of all my teeth except for the roots.
My former pediactric gastro doctor didnt warn me of any of this and frankly if I could sue him I would.
And to top it off the steroids have given me Osteoporosis in my hip and osteopina in both my wrists and I just found out about that 3 months ago. My first scan a few years back showed nothing was wrong."

"I was on Prednisone for about 5 years. After I finally got off of it I had a bone density scan done. 
I was diagnosed with osteopenia. The doctor told me that it was reversible now that I was off the prednisone."

"I was diganosed with UC at the age of 17 and was put on a high does of predisone because nothing else worked.I was on and off it for almost two years.The 2nd time I was on it I noticed strange things happening to my teeth,brown spots forming on them which was clearly decay.Whats sad is right before I got sick with UC I had my braces taken off and my teeth had never looked better."

"Things got worse even though I was going to the dentist all the time.They would fill in my teeth/bond them and a month later some random tooth would start breaking apart/they were crumbling apart *the stuff of nightmares* or I would need a root canal.The dentists *it was a team of two* I went to said the predisone had stripped my teeth of all it's calcium/protection."

 "Just a positive word: I was on high doses of pred a couple of times early in my history of UC. I did experience bone thinning and problems with my teeth; however, with a healthy diet and a serious weight training regimen, I was able to reverse the bone loss and am now back within normal ranges. This was also without regular calcium supplementation or osteoporosis drugs."

So my conclusion is that in order to have descent teeth, my little guy will first have to have his teeth fall apart, before the drug gets out of his system, and then they can (with a good diet) start to rebuild themselves. In the meantime, it will likely cause him pain, and I would be tempted to do a lot of dental work. My poor baby:( I hope someone can learn from this so that they won't make the same mistake in the future. Maybe sometime I'll tell you of the disaster I averted by avoiding the doctors with My Daughters 

Eosinophilic Esophagitis. . .

P.S At the age of two my sons weakened teeth made one break right off when popped in the mouth one day. When I went to the pediatric dentist, instead of telling me the discolored lines were drug induced, he said it was because I breastfed my little boy Biologically. (The way it's been done for thousands of years in most every culture of the world that has good or perfect teeth.) So now I see that Dentists are in the back pocket of the Pharmaseudical companies too, and nursing woman have become the "scapegoats" of the drugs companies blunders. No wonder I haven't heard more about these effects on babies if mothers are told that! More on this in a future post. . .