Steroid Side Effects

Most people are familiar with the term "cortisone" and may even know that it is a steroid but, despite the fact that steroids are commonly prescribed to both people and animals, much more knowledge than that is not really mainstream. Steroid hormones are used to treat many types of diseases and it turns out that by altering the dosage of a steroid, a completely different drug effect is achieved. This means steroids can be used to treat inflammation, improve appetite, suppress an over-active immune system, reduce secretions, treat itching, and more. Steroids can be short-acting, long-acting, intermediate-acting, oral, injectable, topical, or even inhalational. With so many uses possible, it is important to know which effect(s) your doctor is going for.

Let's take a few moments to straighten out the vocabulary of steroids hormones so as to understand what is actually contained in that bottle of pills so frequently dispensed. A lot of terminology can be confusing so it is good to have some basis for what your veterinarian is talking about.

Steroids: A hormone with a cholesterol based structure is a steroid hormone. There are sex steroids (like anabolic steroids that body builders should probably not be using) and adrenal steroids. The steroids that are most commonly used therapeutically are adrenal steroids.

Corticosteroids: Adrenal steroids can be produced by the center of the adrenal gland or by the outer cortex of the adrenal gland. Corticosteroids come from the outer cortex of the adrenal gland. There are two types: glucocorticoids (which address sugar metabolism) and mineralocorticoids (which address electrolyte metabolism). We are concerned with the glucocorticoids for this discussion.

For examples of common glucocorticoids used medically, click here. Which one is your pet using?

Page last updated: 4/13/2026