Prednisolone is a corticosteroid that can be taken orally. It is the natural metabolite of the more commonly used prednisone after prednisone is converted in the liver to prednisolone. Prednisolone is used for a variety of conditions that involve the immune and inflammatory system.

Prednisolone dosage varies with each condition: for reducing the inflammation process in people suffering from croup or asthma, a high dose for three to five days is indicated. For people with autoimmune or inflammatory conditions prednisolone dosage is used at the lowest effective dosage, with higher prednisolone dosage usually used initially and downward adjustments used according to the patients response and the severity of the condition. Prednisolone is recommended to be taken in the morning to mimic the body’s natural corticosteroid producing time, but divided doses can be prescribed to ease the side effects experienced if needed.

Side effects of prednisolone are usually related to the dose and duration of treatment. As corticosteroids affect gene expression, it takes about three days before an effect can be seen. People who are on long term prednisolone generally experience swelling, weight gain, suppression of the body’s own natural ability to produce cortisol, and sometimes high blood sugar level and increased infections.

Adrenal suppression is expected when a long term treatment is needed; this is due to the body not needing to produce any natural corticosteroid as high doses are being introduced into the body. This leads to atrophy of the adrenal cortex. Therefore a slow tapering of prednisolone dose is needed before ceasing the medication completely for the adrenal gland to start producing corticosteroids.