asthma steroids

[mr Mag00]

Been on these for a year and have ever ridden so much through a winter yet i havent lost any weight could these steroids be the reason.

Any research out there, i am looking too, any experience?

 

[punkypossum]

I think it depends how you take them - inhalers won't make you put weight on, however, if you are taking the tablets they might.

 

[Crackle]

As PP says, tablets will defo, not sure about inhalors but I doubt it?

 

[Speicher]

I agree with PunkyP and Crackle. Is it because the inhalors do not put steroids into your bloodstream but the tablets do?

Are you cycling more, and therefore replacing fat with muscle but staying the same weight? Have you tried measuring yourself Mr Magoo?


(steady on at the back)

 

[arallsopp]

My asthma used to be very bad, and the combination of steroids, fear, and inactivity meant I put on a lot of weight.

How much of this was due to the steroids, I don't know. Certainly not being able to walk more than about 50ft without sitting down for a rest can't have helped the calorie burn. Getting caught out a few times with nasty attacks meant I spent a lot of time indoors.

Ultimately, I got fed up with it all and decided to train as a dancer and run marathons.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I've been on inhaled asthma medication since I was 4. I started on Intal, then got switched to Becotide then Qvar (the watered down, environmentally friendly poor substitute) in my 20s.

For a start, don't confuse corticosteroids with anabolic steroids, asthma medication won't build muscle or shrink your bits. Corticosteroids do leave you more open to osteoporosis later in life so I'm informed. All they are is a glorified anti-inflammatory to open up airways.

Until I got a long term knee injury in january I'd been riding 52 weeks a year on a mountain bike for 7 years. I certainly lost weight, over a stone, and four inches from my waist, but have put some back in muscle mass. Apart from being able to breathe properly, I don't put anything down to the medication.

 

[Losidan]

A few years ago I was switched to a new medication which has steroid in it...My weight ballooned big time and a friend on my mothers uses the same medication...Exactly the same happended to her also

 

[Auntie Helen]

I was on a whopper dose of tablet steroids for over a year (about 8 years back) and put on about 5 stone pretty quickly. Not good. However I then went on a serious diet and despite still taking 60mg of prednisolone daily, I managed to lose 33kg in 6 months (lost 55kg altogether).

So it can be done, you can lose weight even on steroids. I don't think the asthma stuff is anything like as dramatic as the dosage I was on so hopefully the tendency to weight gain would be less.

 

[ChrisKH]

I was on a whopper dose of tablet steroids for over a year (about 8 years back) and put on about 5 stone pretty quickly. Not good. However I then went on a serious diet and despite still taking 60mg of prednisolone daily, I managed to lose 33kg in 6 months (lost 55kg altogether).

So it can be done, you can lose weight even on steroids. I don't think the asthma stuff is anything like as dramatic as the dosage I was on so hopefully the tendency to weight gain would be less.

Likewise, I was on prednisolone for eight years on varying doses. At maximum dosage I was eating a huge bowl of pasta at 7.00 pm and then having another at 10.00 pm............ I was also getting up at 3.00 or 4.00 am due to the steroid effect and put a lot of weight on. My adrenal gland shut down towards the end and following surgery, it took a year for my adrenal gland to start functioning properly. I also lost all the weight the minute (well, within a few months) I stopped the drug. Weight gain from steroids is generally due to the stimulation of appetite not due to the drug itself, so if you eat a balanced diet and take steroids in any format, you should not gain weight.

 

[byegad]

I very ocassionaly need to go on steroids for a week or so to control my asthma. Each and every time I'm on them I put on weight, at least half a stone, and it takes ages to get rid of it after. They may well be necessary for my breathing but the weight gain is terrible.