[My Favorite Headache]

My question is this...will he ever return to his normal weight? or will he look like this for the rest of his life because of the condition? Is the prednisone basically keeping him alive?

[Old Professer]

No
Yes
Yes

[justshe]

I saw an interview with Jerry Lewis re: his weight/steroids. Once you have been on high doses of steroids over a long period of time, you have to SLOWLY reduce the dosage.....VERY slowly over a long period of time. He indicated that will be happening with him. You can't just stop them all at once...or you could die. The steroids, IIRC, are taking the place of the function of the adrenal gland. You slowly reduce the steroids and 'trick' the adrenal gland into reactivating.

It can take from 6 months to 3 years....for the body to readjust to being off steroids...and for the weight gain (ballooning) to be reversed.

If he is lucky (and I pray he is)......his weight gain should reverse.