Long-term steroid use can lead to many side effects, including heartburn.

Steroid medications, including corticosteroids, like prednisone, are common treatments for conditions, like asthma or arthritis, that result from inflammation or dysfunctional immune system activity.

However, long-term steroid use can lead to numerous side effects, and heartburn is one of them.

Read on to learn more about the connection between steroid use and heartburn, other side effects of steroids to watch out for, and how to prevent heartburn and other side effects when you’re taking these medications.

Heartburn is a common side effect of steroid use. That’s because corticosteroids, like prednisone, are meant to imitate the effects of cortisol, a hormone produced by your adrenal glands that’s best known for its role in your body’s stress response.

Typically, your body produces cortisol in response to stress or to trigger an immune response to a foreign substance.

This can cause inflammation that corticosteroids can help treat by stopping the production of inflammatory cells, like cytokines, that are a big part of the immune response.

For example, when you experience severe asthma symptoms, a rescue inhaler containing corticosteroids can help reduce airway swelling that would otherwise make it harder for you to breathe.

But this also means the steroid takes the place of cortisol in many important processes resulting from stress or immune system responses, including tightening sphincters throughout the body.

This includes your body’s ability to securely close the sphincter that closes the opening between your stomach and esophagus, where food travels from mouth to stomach.

Over time, using steroid treatments regularly can reduce how responsive this sphincter is, leading to chronic heartburn that’s difficult to reverse.

Prednisone can also be hard on your stomach, increasing your risk of developing stomach ulcers. Ulcers can cause you to have heartburn as well as stomach pain.

Prednisone is the most common steroid known to cause heartburn.

Prednisone is a type of steroid called a corticosteroid. It’s often used to treat inflammation caused by immune system responses, especially in conditions where your immune system attacks your own body.

Experts most commonly link corticosteroids, especially when taken by mouth or used in treatments, like inhalers, to heartburn and other side effects.

Other side effects of taking steroids can include:

The best way to prevent heartburn when taking steroids is to take them only as long as you need them.

Your risk for side effects, like heartburn, increases the longer you use steroids, like prednisone, so only take them for as long as a doctor prescribes them.

You may not always be able to choose how long or how often you need to take steroids. If that’s the case, here are some prevention tips for heartburn:

  • follow your dosing instructions as closely as possible so you don’t take more than you need
  • avoid fried or high sodium foods to help minimize other causes of heartburn
  • exercise regularly to maintain your overall health and support immune system function

You can also ask a medical professional about prescription medications, like antihistamines, that can help prevent heartburn, such as famotidine (Pepcid).

Get medical help if your heartburn becomes painful, makes it hard to eat for a few days or longer, or if you feel nauseated or have frequent vomiting episodes when you have heartburn.

Taking steroids for too long or in amounts that are too high can also cause you to develop dependence, as your body starts to produce less cortisol and becomes less sensitive to the effects of the medication.

Contact a doctor if you have any withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking steroids or take smaller doses than usual. Symptoms include:

  • feeling extremely tired
  • feeling weak
  • having body aches

Here are answers to a couple of the most frequently asked questions about steroids and heartburn.

Is heartburn a side effect of prednisone?

Heartburn is a common side effect of prednisone when you take it for too long or take too much in a single dose.

Is it OK to take antacids with steroids?

Yes, it’s OK to take antacids with steroids. Contact a medical professional to discuss what antacids may be safe for you to take and what dosage will help you reduce the side effects of steroids, including heartburn.

Heartburn is a common side effect of steroids, like prednisone.

Take no higher doses of steroids than medically prescribed by a doctor to reduce the risk of heartburn and other side effects.