"Steroids are Bad":

When I went to Vet School in 1990 there was a professor there who raled against the use of steroids. "Steroids are bad". And he KIND OF had a point because at the time, Vets used steroids FOR, and IN just about everything. (Like Bernie Mac and Windex).

And it's true that cortico-steroids are AMAZING against inflammation and auto-immune conditions. But that's just the thing. It also suppresses the immune situation.

Sometimes if overdone they even creates a body fertile for infections with bacteria. Sometimes, if overdone, it taxes the liver.

But corticosteroids can also drive thirst and benefit some pets with renal disease. And it 'calls off' the attack on red blood cells in AIHA. Corticosteroids will all but STOP a dog from itching (unless there's an infection in the skin AND / OR there are still fleas chewing on the pet).

So steroids are amazing but they're a double-edged sword. And like almost everything, there's a pendulum swinging about them: Vets go from overuse to disuse. And right now the younger new vets are in that frame-of-mind that steroids are "bad" and to be avoided at almost-literally ANY cost.

So there have been cases of spinal / neurological trauma that received NO steroid for the inflammation that results in the soft, spinal tissue in the spine when a disc is bulging or worse. And there were two cases of puppies that DIED of post-vaccinal meningitis because attending vets either did not want to 'admit' it was the vacccine, or stoop to use steroids. (Actually BOTH came into play with one of the two cases.)

One of the assertions about NOT using steroids in neuro-trauma cases is based on two facts:

1. Shepherd Spinal Center has moved away from steroids in these cases because of number two:
2. Glutathione is far better at mitigating spinal damage from trauma and cellulitis than steroids.

But there's another fact that mitigates all of that. When the above two facts changed how vets use steroids in spinal trauma, it ommitted the fact that GLUTATHIONE only stays in circulation for LESS THAN FOUR MINUTES and costs about $27,000.oo per injection.

Work is being done on getting a Glutathione (a credible one) that remains bio-available for spinal trauma for a credible 'therapeutic time frame' without that considerable expense but science isn't there yet.

In the meantime I will use steroids in spinal and other neuro-swelling trauma cases, auto-immune cases, shot-reactions, and even skin cases where Apoquel is to be avoided and Cytopoint is being declined or ineffective.

I even use steroids in Addison's Disease cases and also, management of Cushing's Disease via the Utrecht Method.