Betamethasone

Betamethasone Soluble Tablets belong to a group of medicines called steroids. Their full name is corticosteroids. These corticosteroids occur naturally in the body and help to maintain health and well being. Boosting your body with extra corticosteroids (such as Betamethasone Soluble Tablets) is an effective way to treat various illnesses involving inflammation in the body. Betamethasone Soluble Tablets reduce this inflammation, which could otherwise go on making your condition worse. You must take this medicine regularly to get maximum benefit from it. Many different conditions can be improved by the use of corticosteroids, as they reduce inflammation (redness, tenderness, heat and swelling) in the body. Betamethasone Soluble Tablets are used to treat:

• Asthma
• Severe allergic reactions
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and polyarteritis nodosa; inflammatory conditions of the skin, kidney (such as acute interstitial nephritis or minimal change nephrotic syndrome), bowels (such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease) and heart
• Some connective tissue diseases
• Certain conditions of the blood
• Some types of cancer, such as malignant lymphoma
• Corticosteroids are also used to help prevent organ transplant rejection following organ transplant surgery.

Corticosteroids bind to the glucocorticoid receptor, inhibiting pro-inflammatory signals, and promoting anti-inflammatory signals. Betamethasone phosphate has a short duration of action as it is rapidly hydrolyzed to betamethasone. Corticosteroids have a wide therapeutic window as patients may require doses that are multiples of what the body naturally produces. Patients taking corticosteroids should be counselled regarding the risk of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis suppression and increased susceptibility to infections.

Short term treatment:

• 2000-3000 mcg (4-6 tablets) daily for the first few days, then
• Your doctor may reduce the daily dose by 250-500 mcg (1/2 or 1 tablet) every two to five days, depending upon the response.

Rheumatoid arthritis:

• 500-2000 mcg (1-4 tablets) daily
• For long-term treatment the dose may be lower.

Most other conditions:

• 1500-5000 mcg (3-10 tablets) daily for one to three weeks
• Your doctor may then gradually reduce this to a lower dose
• Larger doses may be needed for mixed connective tissue diseases and ulcerative colitis
• If you need to take half a tablet you should break one in half. Use the break line on one side of the tablet to help you snap it.

Do not take Betamethasone Soluble Tablets:

• if you are allergic to betamethasone or any of the other ingredients of this medicine
• if you have an infection and have not yet started taking medicine (e.g. antibiotics) to treat it.

Feeling depressed, including thinking about suicide; Feeling high (mania) or moods that go up and down; Feeling anxious, having problems sleeping, difficulty in thinking or being confused and losing your memory; Feeling, seeing or hearing things which do not exist. Having strange and frightening thoughts, changing how you act or having feelings of being alone.

If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, think you may be pregnant or are planning to have a baby, ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice before taking this medicine. Taking steroids often or for a long time during pregnancy can slow the baby’s growth in the womb or may temporarily affect the baby’s heart and body movements. If you are breast-feeding, the steroid may enter the baby and lower their hormone levels, if you are taking high doses for a long time.

Talk to your doctor, pharmacist or nurse before taking Betamethasone Soluble Tablets-

• if you have ever had severe depression or manic depression (bipolar disorder). This includes having had depression before while taking steroid medicines like Betamethasone Soluble Tablets;
• if any of your close family has had these illnesses;
• if you have or have ever had tuberculosis (TB);
• if you have epilepsy (fits), severe mental illness, heart disease, hypertension (high blood pressure), stomach or duodenal ulcers;
• if you have osteoporosis (thinning of the bones). Post menopausal women are particularly at risk of this;
• if you or any of your family have ever had glaucoma (raised eye pressure);
• if you have recently had a heart attack;
• if you have recently been in contact with someone who has chickenpox, shingles or measles or recently had chickenpox, shingles or measles yourself. This product may make chickenpox, shingles or measles much worse;
• if you or any of your family are diabetic;
• if you have an underactive thyroid gland;
• if you have myasthenia gravis (a disease which causes muscle weakness);
• if you have ever suffered from muscle wasting due to corticosteroids;
• if you have liver, kidney or heart disease;
• if you have just been or are about to be immunised;
• if you have an infection;
• if you are pregnant or breast-feeding
• if you experience blurred vision or other visual disturbances.

Corticosteroid

Keep this medicine out of the sight and reach of children. Do not use this medicine after the expiry date which is stated on the label. The expiry date refers to the last day of that month. Do not store above 25ºC.