Could it help you live longer if you stay on prednisone if you have idiopathic fibrosis of the lung?

Pulmonary fibrosis: To date, there has been no study published citing mortality benefit with the use of prednisone(or any type of steroids) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis(ipf). That being said, some patients with ipf feel that respiratory symptoms are better with steroids, so we occasionally prescribe them chronically.

Possibly: Idiopathic lung fibrosis is an autoimmune condition that is in general poorly understood but can definitely shorten your life if untreated.Prednisone is a highly effective controller of many autoimmune conditions but over the long term, it can cause severe problems.It would be best to be on a "steroid-sparing" drug long term which often works as well as Prednisone but without same bad side effects.