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Symptoms: Reports of acute toxicity and/or deaths following overdose with glucocorticoids are rare.
Overdose or prolonged use may exaggerate glucocorticoid adverse effects.
Management: No antidote is available. Treatment should be symptomatic and supportive with the dosage of dexamethasone being reduced or slowly withdrawn where possible. Treatment is probably not indicated for reactions due to chronic poisoning unless the patient has a condition that would render him unusually susceptible to ill effects from corticosteroids. In this case, the stomach should be emptied and symptomatic treatment should be instituted as necessary. Anaphylactic and hypersensitivity reactions may be treated with epinephrine (adrenaline), positive-pressure artificial respiration and aminophylline. The patient should be kept warm and quiet. The biological half-life of dexamethasone in plasma is about 190 minutes.
