Medical Talk: Love/Hate Relationship with Prednisone
Prednisone, a steroid any autoimmune sufferer knows all too well.
If you don't know what prednisone is, I'll explain it to you. It's basically the drug doctors throw at you when you are flaring up really bad and nothing else is working. It's cheap and effective. Sounds great until you realize what the side effects are. (Also, if you want the medical definition/ not my horrible explanation of prednisone, click here.)
The side effects to prednisone is different for every person, but I'll tell you what's been happening to me. I can't sleep through a night without waking up two or three times. Why? I have no idea. I've been losing my hair, but thank goodness I was blessed with thick hair, and losing some hair just made it a little more manageable. Still freaking out though, because when I comb my hair it looks like half my hair is coming out on the comb?? I have gained weight, about 20 pounds in a month (WHAT???). No, I didn't really change my diet, I am just gaining weight out of the blue. I have moon face, which basically is the rounding of the face due to weight gain.
So I basically am a puffy, sleepless, hairless hot mess.
I'll talk about the positives because I won't act like this medicine ISN'T helping me. Obviously I am risking the side effects because it has benefitted my health. The pain from my flare up is decreased. I have more of an appetite, which I'm still not used to. It's weird that I'm actually eating more on a "normal person's" eating schedule, instead of forcing myself to eat more than once a day. I don't vomit every time I eat and my bowel moments are more normalized with the medicine.
Yes, I hate this drug's side effects, but yes, I love the fact that it's actually helping me function more everyday. I know this will not be a forever drug and I know that the side effects will go away once I'm off the medicine. You have to take the good with the bad.