Coping with Prednisone (and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines): It May Work Miracles, but How Do You Handle the Side Effects? [Paperback]

Eugenia Zukerman (Author), Dr. Julie R. Ingelfinger M.D. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312195702 | ISBN-13: 978-0312195700 | Publication Date: August 15, 1998 | Edition: 1st

Approximately one million Americans per year take high doses of prednisone and related drugs (glucocorticoids) to treat serious illnesses and conditions ranging from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis to kidney disease to organ transplantation. Wile these medicines may have unpleasant, even devastating side effects, including gastrointestinal problems, intense mood swings, changes in hair and skin, and increased susceptibility to infection, they may also be the only treatment available for serious or life-threatening illnesses.

When the world-renowned flutist Eugenia Zuckerman was prescribed prednisone to combat a rare lung disease, she teamed up with her sister, Julie R. Ingelfinger, a well-known specialist in pediatric nephrology and hypertension at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to write the first ever, comprehensive guide for patients undergoing this difficult treatment.

Packed with everything your doctor didn't have time to tell you, including recipes, exercises, and tips based on personal experience, Coping with Prednisone is an invaluable handbook for health-care workers, caregivers, and especially for patients themselves.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There's now a highly useful, state-of-the-art, and engaging book to guide the many who must use long-term cortisone-related medicines. What a wonderful addition." --Herbert Benson, M.D., author of The Relaxation and Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief

"I wish this book had been available in 1990, when I had a heart transplant; it would have saved me countless hours of anguish and concern...I will place this valuable book next to the dictionary and the encylopedia-books that I refer to all the time." --Samuel Sanders, concert pianist and chamber musician

"This book is a superb resource for patients and professionals: a must-read for anyone taking or prescribing high-dose steroids." --Nina Tolkoff-Rubin, M.D., director of Dialysis and Renal Transplantation at Massachusetts General Hospital

About the Author

Eugenia Zukerman (left) is an internationally renowned flutist, the arts correspondent for CBS-TV News's "Sunday Morning," and the writer of many articles, two novels, and several screenplay. She lives in New York City.

Her sister, Julie R. Ingelfinger, M.D. (right), is chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital, directs her own research laboratory, and is an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Julie has written more than 130 articles, authored a book on pediatric hypertension, and is the editor of a textbook that comes out every other year, Current Pediatric Therapy. She lives in Boston.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312195702
• ISBN-13: 978-0312195700
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 87 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A necessary resource, June 30, 2000

By 

Courtney L. Lewis "Sassy Librarian" (Kingston, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coping with Prednisone (and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines): It May Work Miracles, but How Do You Handle the Side Effects? (Paperback)

Considering my own love/hate relationship with Prednisone, I was very interested in this book, which was a delight to read. I still can't believe the huge lack of information available on steroids, considering its widespread use, and the personal nature of this story is very engaging. The two authors are sisters, Julie a doctor and Eugenia a professional flutist who develops a rare lung disease that requires steroid treatment. There is an excellent question and answer formatted chapter between the two sisters and an excellent chapter on the psychological effects of the medication, with Eugenia describing how she felt on the medication and Julie describing physically why she felt that way. Since Eugenia works in television as a cultural commentator she was especially concerned about changes the medicine might affect in her appearance, and her sister gave her excellent nutritional and exercise advice that is repeated in the book. I do need to point out, however, that Eugenia could 1) afford the more expensive food items, 2) had the time/energy to prepare them, and 3) could physically exercise. For others, including myself, who take Prednisone during a massive physical crisis, bedrest and debilitating pain/lack of energy necessitates us eating what is on hand or someone else buys (usually prepared foods) and exercise can be an impossibility, hence the typical Prednisone weight gain. This book is still a must-have for anyone personally dealing with this medication or with a loved one taking steroids.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for anyone on long term prednisone theraphy!, June 18, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coping with Prednisone (and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines): It May Work Miracles, but How Do You Handle the Side Effects? (Paperback)

A heartfelt thank you to Eugenia Zukerman and Dr. Julie R. Ingelfinger. I read a review of your book "Coping with Prednisone" in the Sunday Parade magazine. Immediately ordered same from Amazon.Com. Ms. Zukerman is the FIRST person I have discovered who suffers from the same disease that I do: Eosinophilic pneumonia, (aka Pulmonary Infiltration with Eosinophilia, or P.I.E.) I was diagnosed in 1987 and in reading Ms. Zukermans account, it could have been me writing the story, almost line for line. I also suffered with the battle of understanding what the Prednisone was doing to me, physically and emotionally, while it was doing it's wonder job of making me better. I thought at times I was crazy, until I begged one of my doctors to get me some help.... "information about side effects of Prednisone". He copied several pages of information from the hospital library, (for doctors only), but at least I had something to compare to, even though it was written in medical terms. I have felt for years that if a patient is on long term Prednisone therapy, detailed explanations should be furnished to the patient, as the side effects of the drug are so varied and at times most devistating. I have been on Prednisone for 12 years. I have learned to live with the side effects, but at times it is extremely difficult. For me, it has become a "trade-off". The prednisone is keeping me alive, so I must accept what else it is doing to me as payment. I have been an M.S. patient for 28 years and in 1991 was diagnosed with S.L.E. (Lupus). However, the Eosinophilic pneumonia has been the most difficult and devistating disease of the three. Unfortunately in my case, the eosinophilic infiltrates only stay at bay when the dose is 5mg. or higher. 60mg. needed to control a major flair of the eosinophilia. I would appreciate very much if Amazon.Com would forward this letter to Ms. Zukerman's publishers and request that they send it along to her. It is very comforting to know that one other person has this rare malady and has experienced many of the same things that I have. I wish I had had this book to read in 1987. It would have made coping with prednisone so much easier!

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mixed Feelings, May 4, 2005

By 

I. Gutierrez "bookjanybunny" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coping with Prednisone (and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines): It May Work Miracles, but How Do You Handle the Side Effects? (Paperback)

Seeing as I've been on prednisone for almost a year now, I thought it'd be a blessing to find this book. Well it was and it wasn't.

I certainly enjoyed the chatty tone this book takes when describing the changes Eugenia was going through, especially since they echoed my own claims of the changes the prednisone was giving me. I knew that these 15 extra lbs. weren't just slips in a healthful eating regime nor were natural the farewell I bid to a once delicate waist or an angulated face or the spacey feeling that assaults me each afternoon. Just the fact that someone acknowledged these symptoms made me feel less alone in my suffering. It made me understand a great deal.

However, the book is severely lacking long(er)-term solutions. The authors claim that "while on prednisone therapy, you should/shouldn't...", "avoid (whatever) while on prednisone". All this when making observations to avoid sugars, salt, and some other stuff. Well, I'm quite glad for the author that she ONLY had to take this medicine for a measly 10 months (even if she was sort of whiny about it at times), but there's so many of us looking at a lifetime treatment here and well, I, for example, teach several baking courses so avoding all sorts of sugar for the rest of my life is definitely not an option. The author says she got through by thinking "this is only temporary", well guess what? Sometimes it's not. There is no "while I'm on prednisone" for so many of us and that's a big mistake to make as well as a separate point the book lacks to address. An important one too, if you ask me.

I've been blessed enough to have my disease under control for a while now and my hopes for a really small dose of prednisone remain high as do a reduction of symptoms. This book helped me make sense of the things that are happening to me, knowing what to blame on the meds and what not to. However, there is no way I can use this book as a guide, not even to "cope with prednisone", as the title suggests. I enjoyed the book (read it cover to cover the day I received it) but I think the authors lacked a little more sensibility to think about people who are cursed with this remedy for more than mere months at a time and address these more serious concerns.