Hi Nancy,
I don't think steroids are a standard protocol post treatment for either surgery or radiosurgery. Generally, they would only be used when some level of inflamation couldn't be controlled or reduced with OTC medications. I had FSR so I can give you some thoughts from the radiosurgery end of it and I'll let some of the other folks who had surgery speak to steroid use there.
When the AN is treated by radiation there can be some degree of swelling in the tumor as a natural consequence. Most of the time when that occurs it does not cause any significant reaction requiring medical intervention. On occassion, the swelling or irritation of the cranial nerves can can cause symptons (vertigo, headache, etc) where the Dr. feels steroids are indicated for a short duration. I know with the Cyberknife treatments I had, there was a nausea and steroid pill available after each of the three treatments. I took both the first day and didn't the next two with no problems. About 6 weeks after treatment I had a pretty good dizzy spell for a few hours and my dr. wrote a script for a 2 week run of steroids. I took them for a couple of days, didn't like what they did to my sleep and stopped with no problems. So most folks don't need them and those that do are ususally for very short durations. There are certainly exceptions to that rule. Jamie, who posts here frequently, found that OTC stuff like Ibuprofen, etc worked just as well for him.
Hope that helps
Mark
