The best dexamethasone tablets are determined by a patient’s condition and a doctor’s recommendation. In most countries the medication is available only by prescription, so individual patients don’t choose the strength of the tablets that they get. Instead, the patient receives a prescription from his doctor, which depends on his health and other factors. Exactly what brand name or generic medicine a person receives is often left up to pharmacies to decide or it may be based on things like prescription drug coverage. Use of this corticosteroid medication without doctor guidance is strongly discouraged, so patients really shouldn’t “choose” their own variants of it.
There are many conditions for which dexamethasone tablets might be prescribed. They can treat arthritis, severe asthma, autoimmune diseases like lupus, or severe diseases of the skin. Sometimes this corticosteroid is also used in cancer treatments. Pill forms of the drug come in strengths such as 0.5-1 milligram (mg). Higher doses that go up to 6 mg are available.
Again, the specific strength of dexamethasone tablets may be based on a patient’s condition. Someone using the drug to treat nausea caused by chemotherapy might take 4 to 8 mg per day, and a variety of tablet strength configurations are possible. In general, children usually take lower doses. If they cannot swallow tablets, there are oral or injectable versions of the drug that can be useful.
Another concern for some individuals is whether brand name dexamethasone tablets are in some way superior to generic ones. People may wonder if it’s worthwhile to spend more for an almost identical medication. Generally, the generic drug is thought equivalent to any brand name variety. Therefore, paying more usually doesn’t make sense.
The only time that it might make sense to purchase another type of dexamethasone tablets is if a person has known allergies to an ingredient, like a dye, used in one form of the drug. In these cases, it’s occasionally necessary to find a formulation that lacks the offending ingredient. For most patients, this is not a concern.
Individuals who take dexamethasone tablets often take it for short periods of time, while others with chronic illnesses may use the drug for many months or years. In these latter instances, doctors may occasionally raise or lower the tablet strength. If a patient becomes seriously ill, the amount of the drug required every day could go up. Alternately, someone responding well to corticosteroid therapy might take a lower dose after a while. It’s important for individuals on dexamethasone therapy to follow their doctor’s advice on increases and decreases so they can derive the most benefit from the drug.