It's a good thing that I (mostly) prewrote those 4 posts before I was stricken with this plague Friday night, otherwise there still would be nothing new up here. You know, for the 2 or 3 of you who read this blog. It seems that the combination of illnesses going around, crazy weather and my allergies/asthma has sent my respiratory system into a tizzy (being around dogs, cats & cigarette smoke recently didn't help either, I'm sure). I have a slight chest/sinus infection along with horribly flared-up asthma. I finally went to the doctor on Monday afternoon when I had a 100+ temperature, lots of wheezing and non-stop coughing fits. I have an antibiotic (2 huge horse pills a day for 7 days!), prednisone (a steroid, which I HATE, also 2 pills a day, but for 5 of the longest days of my life!!), a renewed prescription for liquid albuterol for my nebulizer, and instructions to continue my allergy and asthma medication, rest and go back to the doctor if I don't see an improvement in 3-5 days. The antibiotic and prednisone are killing my stomach. But it seems to be slowly/maybe/sort of helping so I guess I should keep it up so I don't... die.
When I was younger and my allergies were out of control and my asthma was newly diagnosed, I was put on prednisone long-term. At a very high dose. The same dose that I am taking now as an adult. So starting at about 8 or 9, I was taking a full adult dosage of this drug, along with about 3 inhalers. And I was on it for a loooong time. And if you read the side effects and such or prednisone, it explains a lot about me:
Major
increased blood sugar for diabetics
weight gain**
facial swelling
depression, mania, or other psychiatric symptoms**
unusual fatigue or weakness
mental confusion/indecisiveness**
blurred vision
abdominal pain**
peptic ulcer**
infections
painful hips or shoulders
Steroid-induced osteoporosis
Long term migraines**
insomnia**
severe joint pain
cataracts
anxiety**
black stool
stomach pain or bloating**
severe swelling
mouth sores or dry mouth
avascular necrosis
Minor
stretch marks**
nervousness**
acne
rash
increased appetite**
hyperactivity
frequent urination**
diarrhea**
removes intestinal flora
leg pain
sensitive teeth**
The list is from Wikipedia, I've starred the side effects that have affected or currently are affecting me. After a while at the Children's Hospital downtown, where I was prescribed all those drugs, we switched me to a children's asthma/allergy specialist. He freaked out when he saw the dosage of prednisone that I was on and had me stop taking it immediately.
"Adrenal suppression will occur if prednisone is taken for longer than 7 days. This will cause the body to lose the ability to synthesize natural corticosteroids, resulting in dependence on prednisone. For this reason, prednisone should not be abruptly stopped if taken for more than seven days, and instead, the dosage should be gradually reduced. This weaning process may be over a few days if the course of prednisone was short, but may take weeks or months if the patient had been on long-term treatment. Abrupt withdrawal may lead to an Addisonian crisis. For those on chronic therapy, alternate-day dosing may preserve adrenal function, thereby reducing side-effects." (also from Wikipedia, cited from "Therapeutic and Adverse Effects of Glucocorticoids", U.S. Pharmacist)
Basically, being on such a high dose of a steroid for such a long time at such a young age meant that I missed my last growth spurt and started to gain a lot of weight. Not to mention it added to my sleeping issues and stomach sensitivity. Add in the fact that my asthma is also partially weather/exercise induced, and that I still take a few different asthma medicines, these things are not (easily) overcome. Certainly I am never growing those last few inches (but if, at 27, I could, I'd take at least 2-3 more inches, please...). Weight loss doesn't really come easy, if it does at all. My sleeping patterns are always fucked up. I have acid reflux disease and a really sensitive stomach (and bowel, since I'm being so forthcoming here). I feel like when people look at me they see this short, fat girl who doesn't like to exercise and I want to be like BUT I WAS ON THIS AWFUL DRUG AND I HAVE REALLY BAD ALLERGIES AND ASTHMA AND IT'S RUINING MY LIFE. But if you scream strange things at people, they usually don't want to be your friend anyway.
I don't tolerate medication very well overall. I could never abuse drugs. Vicodin makes me itchy and queasy and twitchy and uncomfortable. I experience all the bad side effects of Nexium. Claritin gives me headaches. Zyrtec makes me almost narcoleptic. Allegra and Tylenol don't even do anything for me. Aspirin is bad for my stomach and asthma. Almost all antibiotics screw up my stomach. I'm just a mess. I'm not even sure where I am going with this anymore. I just wanted to let everyone know that I am ill and that prednisone is bad. In fact, I'm going to blame it for me not being able to concentrate on what I'm writing. I can't keep my train of thought right now so I'm going away.
I understand your pain.
ReplyDeleteI was consistently sick from about the time I was born until the pediatrician recommended that I see an allergist. Nearly 25 years of my life have been devoted to allergy shots and medicine, beginning with numerous shots and check-ups twice a week to only 2 shots once a month.
Luckily, I was never subjected to the meds you were put on. My worst things were the purple/grape syrup I had to take every day that stained my teeth and required quite the whitening process in high school. And the stupid pill/capsule I had to take, and being as young as I was a couldn't swallow a pill. My mom would break open the capsule and would mix the contents with applesauce. Every day. Until one day I ate a couple spoonfuls...and then they came right back up. And I cried.
To this day, the sight and smell of applesauce makes me nauseous in the worst way.
Needless to say, after seeing an allergist for so long (and I haven't gotten a shot since December because I moved out DC and haven't found a new allergist yet), I just made it through my second worst season, ragweed, without any issues. And the last time I had a serious asthma attack was back in high school, though I still keep the inhaler around for sometimes preventative puffs before physical activity and if the weather's too hot or too cold...you know the drill.
So, the point I'm trying to make is maybe there's hope that somewhere down the line your body will come around. There's always hope.
I went through years of shots as well. Two a week to one a week. After ~5 years they didn't seem to be doing much more so we stopped.
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