Coping with Prednisone : It May Work Miracles, but How Do You Handle the Side Effects (*and Other Cortisone-Related Medicines)

Approximately one million Americans per year take high doses of prednisone and related drugs (glucocorticoids) to treat serious illnesses and conditions ranging from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis to kidney disease to organ transplantation. Wile these medicines may have unpleasant, even devastating side effects, including gastrointestinal problems, intense mood swings, changes in hair and skin, and increased susceptibility to infection, they may also be the only treatment available for serious or life-threatening illnesses.

When the world-renowned flutist Eugenia Zuckerman was prescribed prednisone to combat a rare lung disease, she teamed up with her sister, Julie R. Ingelfinger, a well-known specialist in pediatric nephrology and hypertension at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to write the first ever, comprehensive guide for patients undergoing this difficult treatment.

Packed with everything your doctor didn't have time to tell you, including recipes, exercises, and tips based on personal experience, Coping with Prednisone is an invaluable handbook for health-care workers, caregivers, and especially for patients themselves.

Eugenia Zukerman (left) is an internationally renowned flutist, the arts correspondent for CBS-TV News's "Sunday Morning," and the writer of many articles, two novels, and several screenplay. She lives in New York City.

Her sister, Julie R. Ingelfinger, M.D. (right), is chief of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital, directs her own research laboratory, and is an associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. Julie has written more than 130 articles, authored a book on pediatric hypertension, and is the editor of a textbook that comes out every other year, Current Pediatric Therapy. She lives in Boston.