Kaye,

I was born with SV CAH in 1951!  I remember getting injections when I was young and switched to Cortef as soon as I could swallow a pill.  I don’t remember my exact age, but I was definitely a child.  At first, my mom crushed the pill in a teaspoon with water.  In my memory as a now 53-year-old woman, nothing has ever tasted as bad as crushed up Cortef!  I learned to swallow the pill quickly! Put in on the back of the tongue and have a drink of milk!

You might already know this, but Cortef (over dexamethasone) is preferred with children because their levels have highs and lows.  Cortef acts for a shorter period of time, which is why children need to take it 2 or 3 times a day.  (The recent research on circadian dosing is interesting.) Plus Cortef is not known to stunt growth. The peaks and lows in children is also why 24 hour urine is collected.

Dexamethasone acts for a longer period of time--I just take mine once a day.  Dexamethesone can stunt growth so it is not the med of choice until after growth stops.  Since levels in adults are more constant, blood tests are used. 

Janet T.