Thanks trying. I'm on another IVF thread but most of the ladies there aren't having the immune treatment so I thought I would spread myself around a little! My husband and I are a bit anxious about the prednisolone after reading a few studies on it. I'm taking 5mg of folic acid and extra calcium (plus a pregnancy multivit) which I understand can help counter some side effects but still a bit nervous. We saw this (below) on the hfea website which put the freakouts in us(!) but I think they are often very cautious when enough trials haven't been carried out, so we've ended up going ahead with what our fertility clinic advises anyway.
Does anyone here know why you have to 'wean' yourself on and off the prednisolone though? What would happen if you just stopped cold turkey? I've been told if the IVF doesn't work out that I need to reduce my dosage by 5mg each week, and just wondered why.
^Steroids
Corticosteroids are a type of drug (a synthetic hormone) that can suppress immune responses, and are routinely used in the treatment of arthritis, asthma and other autoimmune disorders.
However, there is no proven advantage in using steroids in the first three months of pregnancy, and the risks to you and your baby outweigh any possible benefits. The National Teratology Information Service recommends that pregnant women avoid all drugs at this stage unless they are likely to benefit your health.
The Committee on Safety of Medicines says that corticosteroids taken in pregnancy can carry a small risk of poor fetal growth, though there is little other risk to the fetus.
A clinical trial in Canada tested the effect of giving pregnant women, who had previously suffered two or more unexplained miscarriages, a corticosteroid (prednisone). The study found that prednisone didn´t prevent miscarriage, and increased the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and premature birth.^