Steroids for children

Healthcare professionals use steroids for children to reduce inflammation and swelling, and ease associated symptoms. They also use them to protect the brain during surgery. Steroids help to manage the symptoms of a brain tumour rather than treating the tumour itself.

On this page:

When and why might my child be given steroids?
How will my child take steroids?
How long will my child need to take steroids for?
What if I forget to give my child their steroids?
What are the side-effects of steroids?
If steroids don’t work

What are steroids?

Jake explains what it is like to take steroids for a brain tumour.

When and why might my child be given steroids?

It is highly likely that your child may receive steroids at some point during their treatment.

After diagnosis

When your child has a tumour in their brain, it is not only the tumour itself that causes some of the symptoms they may have, but also the swelling surrounding the tumour. This swelling puts pressure on surrounding tissues that can cause symptoms such as headaches, sickness and seizures (fits). To help reduce the swelling, your child’s doctor may prescribe steroids (often a steroid called Dexamethasone). As steroids are fast-acting drugs this could mean that some of the effects caused by the tumour reduce quite quickly. This does not mean, however, that they will reduce the size of the tumour itself.

Before or after treatment

If your child is having radiotherapy or surgery as part of their treatment, they may receive steroids afterwards to help bring down swelling caused by these treatments.

If your child is having chemotherapy, healthcare professionals may give them a small amount of steroids if they feel sick (have nausea). However, sometimes the doctors may not be able to give your child steroid in this instance (Dexamethasone), the doctors may not be able to give it to your child, as it can reduce the amount of the chemotherapy drug that gets into the brain.

Your child’s medical team will advise whether they can have it or not in case your child is feeling nauseous.

(The doctors also give steroids to help manage symptoms if a tumour has come back after treatment or when a tumour has already spread at first diagnosis.)

How will my child take steroids?

There are different ways that your child may take them, including:

orally (as tablets or liquid medicine)
by injection (to the vein or muscle)

The most common way for children to take steroids is in tablet form. The tablets are small and should not be too difficult for your child to swallow.

If your child does have difficulty swallowing the tablets, speak to your child’s health team, who may be able to suggest some ways of helping them to overcome this difficulty. For example, getting your child to swallow tic tacs as practice for taking tablets. They may also refer your child to a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT), who can help with swallowing difficulties.

How long will my child need to take steroids for?

Generally, your child will only take them for a short while (a few days or weeks), but there are some cases when they’ll need to take them for longer. Your child may need to take their dosage every day, or for a few days at a time.

Occasionally the body is unable to produce its own steroids, due to the effect of the tumour, surgery or radiotherapy. In this case, your child will need to have lifelong replacement of steroids in the way that the body produces them.

Medical experts call this ‘physiological replacement’, rather than the ‘pharmacological treatment’ that they use to control symptoms at diagnosis. In this case, the drug usually used is hydrocortisone.

Your child’s doctor will give you instructions about exactly when and for how long the treatment will last.

After taking steroids for a few days, your child’s body will start to produce less of its own steroids naturally.

When taking your child off steroids, their doctor is likely to reduce their dosage gradually. This gives your child’s body time to start making steroids naturally again so they have the correct levels when their doctor has stopped the medication.

Stopping steroids suddenly can make your child unwell, so it is important to follow the doctor’s advice.

If the doctor gives your child a steroid card, make sure they carry it with them at all times. This card contains details of their steroid type and dosage, which is important information if they need medical treatment in an emergency. The doctor may also advise you that your child needs to carry this card for up to a year following completion of their treatment.

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What if I forget to give my child their steroids?

You should, of course, make every effort to help your child remember to take their steroids when they need to, but with everything going on, it is possible that you may forget.

It can help to set an alarm to remind you (and others who are likely to be with your child), or leave yourself a note.

Getting into a routine of when your child takes their steroids is also helpful.

If your child does miss a dose, don’t give them a double dose next time.

Speak to your child’s doctor to see what they advise. This is a good question to ask when your child first starts steroids, so you know what to do if this happens.

Important points to remember:

Steroids help with symptom management rather than treating the tumour itself

It is important that your child keeps taking steroids for as long as their doctor tells them to. When taking them your child’s body will start to produce less of its own steroids naturally, so stopping steroids suddenly can make your child unwell.

Your child must always carry their steroid card with them – for up to a year after treatment.

The steroids used for brain tumours are NOT the anabolic steroids that are used by some athletes to build muscle

What are the side-effects of steroids?

Steroids affect different people in different ways, their effect will also depend on the type and dose prescribed to your child. Find out about the side-effects of steroids.

If steroids don’t work

Although healthcare professionals will carefully develop your child’s treatment plan to be as effective as possible while having the fewest risks or side-effects, sometimes steroids might not work. This can be worrying, but just because one treatment hasn’t worked, it doesn’t mean others won’t.

Find out more about what happens when treatment doesn’t work.