So, I had to look up the difference between Prednisone and Dexamethasone, as I have some passing familiarity with Prednisone.
My son got it a few times for his asthma, which he grew out of, thank god.
My dad got it at least once for pneumonia, and I think twice - he got pneumonia I believe twice within 5-7 years
I got it once for a pretty good case of bronchitis.
Now, I know it wired the f*ck out of my son when he was little, but I didn't appreciate how much until I was given it years later. It's fairly potent. It's potent enough that they always ramp up and ramp down the dosage.
Anyway, I wanted to see if Prednisone and Dexamethasone were the same thing, as Prednisone is fairly strong, but gets used often enough in a kind of routine way.
I was surprised to see Dexamethasone is SIX times stronger and lasts twice as long.
That's a pretty serious, not f*cking around drug.
Dexamethasone is a long-acting glucocorticoid with a half-life of 36 to 72 hours, and is 6 times more potent than prednisone. Prednisone is shorter acting, with a half-life of 18 to 36 hours.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2718595/#:~:text=Dexamethasone%20is%20a%20long%2Dacting,of%2018%20to%2036%20hours.