Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Megan, a 3^rd generation pharmacist, who, inspired by her own personal Prednisone experience, created a pharmacy-grade supplement that is meant for people who are taking prednisone.

You probably already know my story of being on Prednisone for 23 years straight and final managing to get off it thanks to my own formula of CBD-rich broad spectrum hemp oil for treating my Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms.

Still taking prednisone?

So the goal is, of course, going completely off Prednisone. But what if you are still taking Prednisone? Are you aware of the horrendous possible side effects? Are these side effects a sentence for life, or is there a way to mitigate those?

As Dr. Megan described, back in pharmacy school she learned all about Prednisone and knew that this is one medication she never wanted to be prescribed with. But a few years back, a rash suddenly appeared on her skin, and spread from her chest, down to her feet. Her doctor instructed her to immediately go to the emergency room. This took her by a total surprise. The doctor said: “I think you are bleeding inside”.

Turns out that her platelets (tiny cell fragments that form clots and stop or prevent bleeding), which are normally between the range of 150-400, were 3. Yes, that’s right - 3. A real near-death experience. And at that night, her romance with Prednisone began. That one drug she dreaded so much from.

The three most dreaded side effects of Prednisone: insomnia, weight gain, and osteoporosis

But, wanting to live, she took it. As she says: “I thought it’s just going to be a few weeks and then I'll be back to myself. But it wasn’t just a few weeks, and weeks turned into months, more accurately, 9 months”. Dr. Megan ended up getting some form of chemotherapy, that gave her her health back, and she finally was off Prednisone.

She continues and says that when she was prescribed Prednisone, she was mostly concerned about insomnia, which is, in fact, the number one tweeted side effect of Prednisone. She was also worried about gaining weight right after she finally managed to lose the ‘baby fat’ from her last pregnancy. But, Prednisone causes high blood sugar, which then causes hunger cravings and weight gain. It's a vicious cycle.

And last but not least, she was worried about what she describes as a side effect that many on Prednisone are not aware of – Osteoporosis. Personally, she was also worried sine Osteoporosis runs in her family.

These were the tree biggest things she was worried about, but, as Dr. Megan explains, there are actually over a 150, documented side effects of Prednisone, and, rubbing salt on injury, she couldn’t find a single formal source with a list of all those side effects. She did find multiple lists of Prednisone side effects; however, every list was different, and lists were inconsistent with each other.

Some more research revealed that because Prednisone is such an old drug (discovered back in 1955), it was actually grandfathered in and never had to actually go through safety testing. So there was no drug-manufacturer-created list of side effects.

Thanks to her pharmacist friend, she got access to drug databases’ data about Prednisone. As she describes: “one list had 48 side effects, one had 74, the other had 120, and so on”. When she combined the lists, there were over 150 side effects. Here's that Prednisone side effects list.

I asked Dr. Megan what where her highs and lows dosages with Prednisone and her answer threw me back. She was put on a sister drug to Prednisone called Dexamethasone and needed 10 of the highest-ranked tablets. So 40mg of Dexamethasone, which is equivalent to 225mg of Prednisone that she was taking every day. “It was horrible horrible horrible” she says. She got the moon face and that pregnant looking belly.

Dr. Megan's revelation moment

As for the moment of revelation that got her to think about crating an answer to all those Prednisone side effects she describes: “I was going in for 8-hour long infusions of that chemotherapy, and was still put on very high dosages of Prednisone. One evening, after my infusion, I was laying in bed trying to take a nap because I was so tired with all those side effects and was thinking – there has to be something better than this. What could be done?”

So now, having that mega list of all Prednisone side effects, combined with her knowledge as a pharmacist, it all came together and clicked in her head. She explained that side effects are the result of nutrients depletion, and continues - every pharmacist knows that the Osteoporosis is the result of low calcium and vitamin D, and that every person who is prescribed with Prednisone, according to the prescribing doctor, should also take calcium and vitamin D. So that was clear.

But then she realized that Prednisone's side effect of high blood sugar causes hunger cravings since there’s an actual depletion of a specific nutrient, and that nutrient is chromium, a metal mineral that is usually quite rare in your body that is being depleted by Prednisone. As she puts it: “your body is being told to pee it all out by the Prednisone”. She continues: “If you had it, and it was in this beautiful matrix with the insulin and the sugar, you’d feel calmer and more stable and less hungry and have less blood sugar swings, and potentially, less diabetes”.

But those were just the tip of the iceberg, and when she started diving deep, she discovered that there were at least nine nutrients that Prednisone “steals” from your body, and then she was able to match it up with her mega side effect list to discover that they match up with the nutrient depletion. The nutrient depletion causes the side effects. And that was her Eureka moment.

The solution to counter Prednisone side effects

She thought to herself, that during those past 8 months, she could have been taking to make her feel better that whole time and set upon creating the solution – not only replenish the nutrients that Prednisone steals, but she was also going to find ingredients that directly counteract side effects.

So putting all that together, she invented a supplement called Neutronized Zone. There’s the morning one, that has ingredients that help with having your appetite and mood under control during the day, and then, there’s the bedtime, that helps, obviously, with sleep. So the supplement, not only gives back the calcium and vitamin D, but also all of these other nutrients that you need to build strong bones.

So you finally managed to get off Prednisone

I asked Dr. Megan what if someone manages to go off Prednisone, do they still need to continue taking the supplement? She elaborated, saying that it’s very individual and everybody is different. Everyone had a different Prednisone dose, different baseline inflammation and a different baseline nutritional status, so it’s really about how you are feeling.

If you stop the Prednisone and you don’t feel yourself 100% again, and fully recovered from all of those side effects, you should probably continue to take the supplement.

Dr. Megan says that it had taken her almost an entire year to create her supplement. She had to figure out all the nutrients needed that were depleted, and what other ingredients would counteract side effects, and to find the best manufacturer.

As a pharmacist, it was important to her to find someone who can give her a product that is as close as it gets to a prescription drug. She defines herself as a “pharmacist snob” and she knows all about the testing and the rigorous nature of creating a drug. Dr. Megan actually used to compound drugs back in the pharmacy and knows all about quality control.

As for now, Dr. Megan is selling her supplements online on her website https://nutranize.com/ and also offers a subscription-based model that helps you save 10%-off for each purchase. There’s also a 100% moneyback guarantee.

So to summarize - our goal is to get off Prednisone. However, if you are still taking Prednisone, there are ways to counter, or at least minimize, Prednisone's side effects and help your body replenish some of those depleted nutrients caused by the drug.

And don't forget to use promo code RECLAIM on checkout for an additional 10% off at Dr. Megan's site: https://nutranize.com/

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Megan, a 3^rd generation pharmacist, who, inspired by her own personal Prednisone experience, created a pharmacy-grade supplement that is meant for people who are taking prednisone.

You probably already know my story of being on Prednisone for 23 years straight and final managing to get off it thanks to my own formula of CBD-rich broad spectrum hemp oil for treating my Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms.