Question: I take replacement hydrocortisone and recently had surgery. I know that increased doses are required during and after surgery, but they gave me 100mg every 6 hours, which I know was way too much. How much cortisone does one really need during and after surgery?

Answer: Usually the dose of additional hydrocortisone required for stress should not exceed 3 to 4 times non-stress levels. With surgical stress, 200 mg during the day of surgery should be sufficient and the dose should be quickly decreased on the day after surgery. Unless there are complications of the surgery, patients should be back on their replacement dose of hydrocortisone within 48 hours after their surgery.

By David Schteingart MD (Spring, 2006)