Prednisone is a drug that people love and hate. Being a corticosteroid, it relieves inflammation so we lung patients breathe better. But it has bad side effects, although most are associated with long term use rather than the short burst your doctor is recommending. My doctor says that mycobacterium like steroids so she doesn't want me to take them. I would need to be really, REALLY sick to take prednisone which, being an oral med goes throughout the body. I do inhale Symbicort which has a steroid as one if its drugs. My doctor doesn't like it but my lungs are in such bad shape that I can't function without it.

With our history of lung bacteria, I would hesitate to take prednisone. Budesonide, the steroid in Symbicort, is available as a nebulized drug which means it would go directly into the lungs with very little going into the blood and then throughout the body. Or, you might try one of the many inhaled bronchodilators to see if they would help. Pred should be a last resort.

Jmo.

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