1. Do patients with lupus nephritis need to take hormones for life? ”It is an old concept to take hormones for life. With the progress of treatment, the maintenance treatment for patients with stable enough disease will gradually enter the “hormone-free era” in the future. However, this does not mean that “if you feel good, you can stop taking hormones”. 2.What is hormone shock therapy and under what circumstances do I need to use it? Hormone shock therapy is a common treatment for severe lupus (including severe lupus nephritis), which refers to the use of large amounts of glucocorticoids (injections, commonly methylprednisolone 0.5-1.0g per day for 3-5 days, depending on the person) for a short period of time. Consider hormone shock in severe lupus nephritis, lupus pneumonia, mesenteric vasculitis, some lupus encephalopathies, severe hematocrit, and other severe diseases. Shock treatment should be combined with comprehensive treatment to maximize the efficacy and minimize the side effects. 3.How to reduce hormone dosage during the stable stage of lupus nephritis? The disease varies greatly. The following principles should be followed: (1) Start fast and then slow, for example, reduce the dose by one tablet per week at the beginning, and even slower when it is less than 5-6 tablets. (2) Other organ lesions besides the kidney should be considered. The same nephritis, but different hormone regimen because of other organ conditions. (3) Pay attention to the prevention and treatment of side effects of prolonged hormone application. 4.How often should I have a follow-up checkup during hormone therapy? It depends on the person. Generally, if the hormone dosage is greater than 10 tablets, the follow-up examination should be conducted once every half month. If the dosage is 5-10 tablets, the follow-up should be once a month. If the dosage is lower, the time interval can be longer. In practice, because of the majority of patients in the field, the interval between follow-ups is often longer. 5.What are the dangers of intermittent hormone use or voluntary discontinuation? (1) The so-called “hormones”, in fact, our body has them, and the human body also produces “hormones” to regulate various body functions. After taking hormones for a long time, the body’s hormone-producing organs become “lazy” and the production of hormones decreases. Therefore, it is necessary to have a process to reduce and stop hormones and wait for the body’s own hormone production to recover. (2) Hormone treatment has a certain course of treatment and dosage reduction rules, so stopping the medicine on your own will lay the groundwork for relapse or aggravation of the disease, which will not only delay the treatment, but also make you take more medicine in the end. It is important to understand the truth that “taking medicine now is for not taking medicine later, and taking pain now is for not taking pain later”. 6.What are the side effects of hormones on the body, and are the side effects of shock treatment stronger? There are many kinds of possible side effects of hormones, but effective prevention and treatment, reasonable use of medication, and timely reduction of dosage can reduce toxic side effects. The toxic side effects can be reduced. The side effects that need to be taken seriously (in common terms) include increase in blood pressure, susceptibility to viral infections and germs leading to colds and diarrhea, femoral head necrosis, growth of face and body weight, increase in acne, etc. The side effects of shock therapy are of course large when the dose is high. 7.If the patient has diabetes, femoral head necrosis and other diseases, can he still use hormone therapy? Weighing the pros and cons, it is necessary to use them. In the case of diabetes, as long as the blood sugar control is strengthened, the diabetes will be improved after the hormone dosage is reduced after the difficult time of lupus. In the case of femoral head necrosis, avoid high doses of hormones as much as possible, and at the same time give various kinds of treatment to activate blood and improve bone nutrition.