Hi doctor, Almost 5 years back, my father had an operation for a brain tumor in the left tempero-parietal region. He had Dexamethasone injections 12 mg and radiation on a linear accelerator 51 and 45. After two years, he had a CT and everything was fine. He even walked. But, when we started lowering the dose of the hormone he stopped walking. He took those 12 mg for five months. Now, he has steroid diabetes and retinopathy. We lowered the dose of Dexamethasone slowly and currently, it is 0.88. Now his bile production is bad and his stool is yellow. When the dose was 0.96 everything was fine with the bile. He takes Essentiale three times a day, Pankreatin 8000 thrice daily, Omez 20 mg once a day, Ascorutin thrice daily and Citrocalcium. When we lowered the dose of the evil hormone to 0.88, the bile problem started. When we started to give double the dose of Essentiale, everything started to be fine again. But, with the usual dose again the problem has come. Because of this hormone his sugar level does not drop. He is getting Insulin injection and the sugar level is 5.2. My questions are does the gall problem occur because of Dexamethasone? Is there any medicine to restore adrenal cortex function? How can one stop taking this hormone? How can we make him walk again? Will he ever be fully functional again? Thanks in advance.
Hi. I would like to know a few things very clear here. From your history, I gather that he had surgery on the brain and was on steroids post-op. And also he received radiotherapy. For what condition the brain surgery was done? He might be having what is called as steroid-induced diabetes and for which Insulin is the treatment. Steroids can harm the liverover time, but they would have been prescribed because the benefit at that time was more than the harm that would have been caused. We need to know the clinical improvement with reduced dose for further reduction. There are no medicines that can restore the adrenal cortex function. His steroid production is suppressed due to exogenous steroids. It needs tapering and then if possible can be stopped. I can comment on his recovery only after knowing his exact detail of the medical procedure done and the diagnosis.