Can prednisone cause hot flashes?

Have you been taking prednisone and suddenly started experiencing hot flashes? Don’t worry, you’re not going through early menopause – at least, not necessarily. Prednisone is a corticosteroid medication that can be prescribed to treat inflammation, autoimmune diseases, or as part of chemotherapy treatment. While it’s an effective drug in many cases, it can also have some unpleasant side effects. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at whether or not prednisone can cause hot flashes.

What are Hot Flashes?

Before we dive into the relationship between hot flashes and prednisone use, let’s make sure we all understand what hot flashes actually are.

Hot flashes are sudden sensations of heat that usually affect the upper body. They may come with sweating and rapid heartbeat or palpitations. Generally speaking they last for around 30 seconds to 5 minutes but for those who experience them every day… well that’s another story entirely!

While most commonly associated with menopause symptoms (thank you estrogen fluctuations), hot flushes (the UK term) do happen to people outside of “The Change” too.

How Does Prednisone Work?

In order to determine if prednisone could potentially cause hot flashes as a side effect, it’s important to first understand how the drug works in our bodies.

Prednisone is classified as a corticosteroid medication which means it work via your adrenal cortex under your cerebral hemispheres ^[1] rather than hitting up swollen joints directly like Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The role of corticosteroids varies from supporting growth & repairing tissue during childhood/adolescence right on up through immune system regulation throught your adult life.

When cortisol levels dip due illness/injury/stress/etc…, synthetic corticosteroids such as predinose are prescribed to take over in doing the work of cortisone. This is why you might be prescribed this medication for arthritis or someting like lupus where inflammation is a concern.

What Are the Side Effects of Prednisone?

As with any medication, there are potential side effects associated with prednisone use.

Listed below are some most common side-effects associated with short-term/prescribed prednison usage:

  • Increased appetite
  • Weight gain (in torso and facial areas)
  • Mood/emotion changes
  • Insomnia/Restlessness/Anxiety ^[2]
  • Fluid retention / swollen feet & ankles
  • elevated blood sugar levels^[3]

It’s important to note that not everyone who takes prednisone will experience all of these symptoms, but they can occur.

Can Prednisone Cause Hot Flashes?

Now that we’ve covered what hot flashes and prednisone are, let’s dive into whether or not taking this drug can cause hot flashes.

There is anecdotal evidence out there from people who claim they have gotten hot flashes while on steroids such as pred^‘teroids buuuuut…

While individual experiences should certainly be taken seriously, it’s also important to look at scientific research and professional medical consensus here. Unfortunately…not much exists outside of isolated case reports without substance behind them documenting clear connections between steroid intake & sparking off full-blown ray-up-hot-flash mode in otherwise healthy adults^(4).

Most commonly reported to those providing symptom-related feedback during clinical trials were more along the lines of:
mood swings
sleeping disturbances
fluid retention

Those took place far more often than experiencing something resembling a flash-fry product reminiscent dish side-effect^(5), so until further studies come out suggesting otherwise..we’re going to say nope (-ish)!

Otherwise healthy individuals seem less likely overall than someone already going through hormonal changes to experience the condition while taking prescribed prednisone, unless patient has undiagnosed underlying health issues that the treatment of a narrow concentration may cause some unforeseen side-effects.

Dealing with Hot Flashes

If you’re experiencing hot flashes while taking prednisone or for any other reason (whether due to hormones imbalance or an underlying medical condition) there are ways to manage them.

These measures include:

  • Dressing in layers so that you can easily remove clothing when hot flashes strike
  • Keeping your bedroom cool and dark at night
  • Practicing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation & yoga
  • Any kind of physical movement / sport done regularly – this should help regulate circadian cycles regardless.
  • Exploring essential oils, supplements such as black cohosh (although beware on consuming high amounts).

It’s important to consult with your healthcare provider and inform them if you’re really feeling distressed/complaining about these events. Your doctor may suggest a further workup if they suspect something more serious could be going on behind it.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, prednisone is not typically associated with causing hot flashes in otherwise healthy people. If anything those present often enough during clinical trials turned up alongside far less glamorous but still stigmatizing conditions like fluid retention/insomnia/mood swings..

However..many individual factors contribute a lot towards whether someone experiences symptoms like night sweats than ‘just’ their medication plan do! Talk over concerns surrounding recent medication shifts play particular attention while discussing potential presenting risks or confounding factors within your body constitution history can flag stuff early avoiding undue worry later on down the road where hopefully heat from flashiness will no longer be amongst things needing therapy consideration!

Sources:

  1. Brody’s Human Pharmacology: Mechanism-Based Therapeutics, 6th edition by Lynn Wecker et al., pgs 396–402.
  2. “The effects of steroids on brain and behavior.” The American journal of psychiatry vol 145,7 (1988): pgs: 815-23. doi:10.1176/ajp.145.7.815
  3. https://www.mayoclinic.org/sthree_flex_block.html?productid=139595&anchor=FAQ&p=1
    4.“Corticosteroid therapy and occurrence of symptoms associated with bipolar disorder” Br J Psychiatry Vol 178, Issue s41 (2001): pg S57−S64..doi: 10/1192/bjp/1813600410
    5.Requirements for adverse event reporting in clinical trials are dictated by regulatory agencies such as the FDA among others within your respective region/location!

End Of Article

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