Allergic reactions Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

The MHRA received an enquiry from a patient representative to the Yellow Card scheme about the risk of topical steroid withdrawal reactions, which triggered this assessment. It is important to follow the advice provided with topical corticosteroid medicines and to contact your doctor if your skin condition doesn’t improve or gets worse, including after you stop using a topical corticosteroid. There aren’t usually any severe side effects if you take steroid injections, a steroid inhaler, or a short course of steroid tablets. However, prolonged treatment at high doses can cause problems in some people.

• A major side effect of long term prednisolone use is osteoporosis.
• You can usually drink alcohol while taking steroid tablets, but do not drink too much as this may irritate your stomach.
• Although benefits are seen within two to four months, a course of allergen immunotherapy, whether administered by injection or as sublingual tablets, is generally given for three years.
• This information leaflet is designed to answer common questions patients ask about Prednisolone.
• If you think you have fatigue, tell your GP or treatment team.

All patients had been treated with topical corticosteroids in the long term, often with escalating dosage and frequency of application. In many cases a severe burning sensation was the main characteristic reported. Information about these reactions will be added to the product information provided to healthcare professionals and patients.

Paclitaxel (Taxol)

There’s generally no reason why someone shouldn’t be able to use a steroid inhaler or steroid spray. However, these should be used with caution in people with ongoing infections, like tuberculosis (TB). Do not use a hydrocortisone on your face unless a doctor has told you to and given you a prescription for it. For long-term skin problems such as eczema and psoriasis you may need to use hydrocortisone for longer.

In the case of a severe allergic reaction, you must call 999 or go to your nearest Accident and Emergency Department as soon as possible. If you don’t know what’s causing your allergic reaction, your GP can help work it out. It will be helpful for him/her if you keep a diary of when and where symptoms occur. Allergy is a very common condition, affecting one in three people in the UK at some point in their lives.

INDUSTRIAL STRIKE ACTION – ADVICE FOR PATIENTS

Do not stop taking corticosteroids suddenly if you have been taking them for more than three weeks. Your body normally makes its own steroid chemicals and when you take steroid tablets your body may reduce or stop making its own steroid chemicals. If the dose is reduced gradually, the body resumes its natural production of steroids and the symptoms do not occur, although some have to withdraw more slowly than others to avoid low energy and fatigue. This paper by Sheary reviews some individual cases and the literature, including the review by Hajar above.

What are steroids?

Tell your healthcare team about any medicines you are taking. This includes vitamins, herbal supplements and over the counter remedies. Also let them know about any other medical conditions or allergies you may have.

However, any effects will also depend on other chemotherapy drugs you are having at the same time or have received in the past, and your age. Looking after your mouth, including your teeth and gums, is very important during treatment. If you do get world-pharmacy.life a mouth infection your specialist or chemotherapy nurse can advise you about different mouthwashes or suitable medicine. If you have skin reactions, mention this to your treatment team when you see them next so they can monitor the symptoms.

Yellow Card scheme

You may begin to lose your hair about two weeks after the first treatment, but it can happen earlier. Hair loss is usually gradual, but it can happen very quickly, possibly over a couple of days. At this appointment a nurse will discuss how and when your chemotherapy will be given and how side effects can be managed.

If you had diabetes before you started steroid treatment, your lymphoma medical team and your diabetes medical team work together to manage your treatment and blood sugar levels. It is also possible that a topical steroid could irritate your skin or cause an allergic reaction. If this happens, you will be given a different type of topical steroid treatment. When someone who has an allergy comes into contact with an ‘allergen’ (the substance that they are allergic to), their body reacts in a certain way.