And if the dose of pred is just enough to bring her into balance, there shouldn't be side effects.
Exactly. When it's a really low dose that just kickstarts their other hormone secreting glands back into acting properly, there's no reason to fear it. Just remind yourself the pituitary gland, pancreas, ovaries, the pineal gland, testes, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, and hypothalamus all depend on cortisol to work properly.
That's why Vlad had so many issues going wrong all at once when his body finally, completely quit making cortisol. Without enough cortisol, it will throw everything off little by little until you have a big mess.
That's why I call cortisol the King. It rules everything, and any amount of lack of it messes up things.
That's when you depend on cortisol replacement--prednisone, prednisolone or hyrdrocortisone.
Edit: You can treat those issues one at a time like was done with Vlad for a year, but in the end, it was something totally different that was causing all of those different issues, and without treating the REAL issue, none of it worked for long. The reason he would get well for a time was because they were giving him shots of steroids each time.
His Addison's was unknowingly being treated and everything would fall back in line--as long as the injection lasted.