[shr7]

Prednisone is commonly used for short term control of allergic asthma. It is a very dangerous drug to be used long term, and is not the safest to use short term either. Our patients are given an asthma action plan (hopefully). First resort, they hit themselves with Albuterol. Second resort, more Albuterol. Last resort, more Albuterol, then we start them on a SHORT course of prednisone. Do not worry about the immunosuppresive effects if it is only a short course of the drug. Maybe start to think about it after 4 weeks. However, if you are taking it for more than a couple weeks anyway, you have got a boatload of issues to deal with, that could fill up this entire thread.

There are medications you can take to preempt these symptoms when you know you are going to be in a situation like this. I would be out of my lane to suggest them, since I don't know what kind of drugs are available to you out in the field, or if you would be able to receive them before a field exercise. But, if you run across this problem in your personal life, inhaled steroids (like Flovent), leukotriene inhibitors (like Singulair) and mast cell stabilizers (like Cromolyn) can all have benefit. But again, I don't know what the situation is in the armed forces as far as access to these drugs.

But in reference to your original questions,
1) I don't know, the medics out there may have an answer.
2) I would document it.

EDIT: I forgot to add, RF 1 is all too correct when he states that the inhaler needs to be used properly. Giving a bunch of people inhalers that have never used them before, you are almost guaranteed to get some weird stuff going on. Where to place them, number of puffs, how long between each puff, number of puffs per day, how often to take your dose. It is not nearly as easy as it seems.