Discussion: I am a heavy smoker. My attending physician prescribed me prednisone following severe bronchitis symptoms. I felt significant relief when taking the drug, but my condition worsened considerably when I stopped.

Smoking produces a prolonged inflammatory process, and breathing difficulties have appeared over the years. Steroids moderate the inflammatory response and alleviate the symptoms. But they do not cure the inflammation caused by smoking and certainly do not treat smoking cessation, which is your key to recovery.

Prednisolone is a synthetic corticosteroid hormone that mimics the natural cortisol action secreted by the adrenal gland when needed. The hormone prednisone suppresses the immune system's activity and thus improves various inflammatory symptoms. Medicine makes extensive use of steroids in a wide variety of medical conditions. (Autoimmune diseases, cancer, transplant patients, COPD, and a wide range of inflammatory diseases, including COVID-19.) However, steroids have severe side effects from prolonged use. Most importantly - steroids do not cure the disease! They only temporarily suppress the symptoms at the painful cost of sustained damage to the immune system.

Link: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, including Smoking Cessation Methodology.
https://www.sf-healing.com/page/188 (Copy & Paste)