Behcet's Disease Treatment
Doctors also prescribe medicines taken by mouth to reduce inflammation throughout the body, suppress the overactive immune system, and relieve symptoms. Doctors may prescribe one or more of the medicines described in the following sections to treat the various symptoms of Behcet's disease.
Corticosteroids
Prednisone is a corticosteroid prescribed to reduce pain and inflammation throughout the body for people with:
- Severe joint pain
- Skin sores
- Eye disease
- Central nervous system symptoms.
Patients must carefully follow their doctor's instructions about when to take prednisone and how much to take. It also is important not to stop taking the medicine suddenly, because the medicine alters the body's production of the natural corticosteroid hormones.
Long-term use of prednisone can have side effects such as:
- Osteoporosis (a disease that leads to bone fragility)
- Weight gain
- Delayed wound healing
- Persistent heartburn
- High blood pressure.
However, these side effects are rare when prednisone is taken at low doses and for a short time. It is important that patients see their doctor regularly to monitor these possible side effects. Corticosteroids are useful in early stages of the disease and for acute, severe flares. They are not typically used for long-term management of central nervous system and serious eye complications.