My mother has taken D/D before. It makes her angry, jittery, and sad. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, for a stereotactic radiosurgery, she had to take four four-MG doses over a period of eighteen hours. Only after this did I learn that the tapering off would take forty-six days. Even aside from my mother's problem with D/D, this strikes me as an absurdly long time.
Why must you taper off the steroid Decadron/Dexamethasone rather than simply stop taking it?
- Asked
- 8 Nov 2012 by timot
- Updated
- 26 November 2012
- Topics
- decadron, dexamethasone, steroid
Answers
Marvell
26 Nov 2012
It does seem like a long time but it's probably better to take the precaution. Dexamethasone is a very potent steroid and 16mg over 18 hours is a big dose, so just stopping this may cause steroid withdrawal symptoms.
timot
26 Nov 2012
I called the local doctor who's a partner of the one who did the surgery, and he cut the amount Mom had to take approximately in half. Mom reacts so badly to the Dexamethasone that I wonder if withdrawal would be any worse than taking it. Anyway, the tapering-off period ended a few days ago so this problem has passed.
timot
26 Nov 2012
I forgot to say thanks for the information. Thanks!
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