Steroids and Vitamin D

Physicians routinely prescribe injectable steroids for sale in the usa for asthma, low back pain, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, M.S., and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, among other conditions. Patients are frequently on steroids for an extended period of time. And end up with dangerous side effects like avascular necrosis of the hip or shoulder, serious infections, diabetes, high blood pressure, glaucoma, macular edema, proximal myopathy, and severe osteoporosis, which can lead to fragility fractures.

Vitamin D and steroid use

While there are a number of routes by which steroids can cause side effects, vitamin D insufficiency appears to be one of the most common. Steroids counteract vitamin D’s positive benefits. Vitamin D, for example, stimulates osteoblasts, increases calcium absorption from the intestines, and prevents secondary hyperparathyroidism in bone. Steroids have the exact opposite effect: they inhibit osteoblasts, reduce calcium absorption from the intestines, increase calcium squandering from the kidneys, and produce secondary hyperparathyroidism. Steroids promote fast bone loss in this way (osteoporosis).

Furthermore, Vitamin D strengthens the immune system, whereas steroids weaken it. Steroids raise blood pressure, whereas vitamin D lowers it. Insulin resistance is reduced by vitamin D, whereas it is increased by steroids. Steroids cause myopathy, but vitamin D develops muscles.

It is self-evident that steroids counteract the effects of vitamin D.

What is the mechanism behind it?

Steroids disrupt the vitamin D receptor, which is one mechanism. Steroids also cause obesity, which lowers the amount of vitamin D in circulation. Other mechanisms may exist as well.

Steroids rob you of the positive effects of Hormone D in as little as 5 days, according to clinical studies. As a result, I advise my patients to quadruple their vitamin D intake while on steroids and monitor their serum and urine calcium levels. Urine calcium waste can be reduced by limiting salt intake to 3 grams per day and taking a thiazide diuretic.

When it comes to steroid-induced osteoporosis, “prevention is better than cure” is your best choice because there is presently no treatment that can effectively treat this type of osteoporosis.