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Prednisone pills are substantially more dangerous than cortisone cream, no? The one time I've taken prednisone, I had pretty severe mood swings, which is just one of a dozen notable side effects.

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Yes, prednisone is the 5-4-3-2-1 dose to wean you off. Had it recently for bad lung burning from bronchitis, and can work slipped discs in back.

Prednisone is common to reduce inflammation in patients with Crohn's disease or Ulcerative Colitis.

I think my dad also takes it in much lower doses for asthma.

But, it has horrible affects both long and short term.

I work with a guy who was given prednisone to treat some problem or other. It wasn't some high dose, and he didn't take it for long, but he was unlucky. The capillaries feeding the network around his hip sockets essentially all died, and he started having a lot of pain walking, then started using a cane (he was in his late 40s). A couple years later he had a double hip replacement.

Prednisone won't cause that. Its a very safe anti inflammatory.

Not really.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/steroids/art-20045692?pg=2

Its pretty safe. Those are side effects of larger and consistent doses. You dont go from having veins to dying veins in a day from a prednisone dose.

There's a difference between "very safe" and being reasonably safe in smaller doses over a short term.

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