Prednisone rears its
ugly head.
Credit of this photo is unknown. If you know please let me know.
Not only do I have IBD I was born with a genetic defect that
causes me to have spontaneous pneumothoraxes.
Spontaneous pneumothoraxes cause me to collapsed lungs at no given time
for any reason. Usually, people get them when they are in car accidents or
sudden trauma to the chest. I have had
way too many to count and even had surgery for one 20 years ago. My chest is
scarred from chest tubes. In any case,
it is accompanied by other lung problems such as asthma, bronchitis and
pneumonia. Which accounts for my many pills for allergies, inhalers both rescue
and inhaled steroids and on some occasion it is accompanied by breathing
treatments and steroid bursts of prednisone.
So when the IBD came into effect 8 years ago I was not new
to steroid treatment. Not just prednisone but one time I was on Entocort EC for
almost 3 years. This past month I came down with a terrible cold. I mean the
worst of the worst. I know my teen age son had been having problems too this month and he went twice for a strep test and even sent him back again for blood work. His
symptoms are gone but he is still run down.
So keeping that in mind I slept in the Lazy Boy recliner for months
coughing my brains out and not sleeping for days. My husband said go to the doctors
but I wanted to wait out the 7-10 day cold period because hey let’s face it
with the IBD I see the doctors and hospitals all time! Am I not right all of
you sufferers? So the Friday after Thanksgiving I called but the doctor’s office
was closed. I was really looking forward to that weekend especially since
increased mucous from my asthma always makes my IBD symptoms worse and not just
worse to the extreme.
So the following
Monday I called for an appointment for the next day. Why the next day? Our
truck broke down. That day my son also had his follow up and
they wanted to know how he was making out with his Mononucleosis. What MONO????
They never called us. They said they would call if they found anything on his
blood work.
So I went to my appointment as planned. My lungs had way too
much fluid in them so they upped my Advair inhaled steroid and decided to put
my on a prednisone burst for that and my IBD. My stomach was so bad they put me
on a 3 day liquid diet then I could ease into the regular prednisone diet. For
my IBD I am already on a FODMAP diet which is extremely limited for foods for
me to begin with plus it excludes gluten and dairy (I use Lactaid pills when I
have dairy) As sick as I was I was trying it but not in my right mind because I
forgot about the ugly symptoms of the prednisone. I went to the lab for blood
work (to also include a mono test) then off home to take on my numerous meds
and extremely limited diet.
So the fun began. Broth for dinner with cranberry juice
mixed with lemon seltzer water. Cranberry juice is a no no because it has high fructose
corn syrup but hey what do they expect me to do? Follow the FODMAP diet or follow the liquid diet. My husband and son ate and the smell of them cooking a chicken
dinner drove me crazy. Then later that night as we are watching TV he brings up
a snack of yogurt mixed with berries and walnuts. That drove me crazy so I
thought I would go down and get a fruit Popsicle. None left. On top of it all I have my husband
all night asking me what wrong. (HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU WHAT IS
WRONG!) Big surprise there so I went to bed instead.
The next bitchy day I had more meds, chicken broth and
drank cranberry juice watered out with seltzer water. Plus, I drank spring
water all day long. Plus, I made a big batch of jello. My favorite, NOT! Thankfully,
my son and husband are not home during the day. So this went on for two more
days. Not only am I bitchy I feel like I want to jump out of my skin. I am
extremely forgetful. I forgot that I was cooking homemade creamy squash soup
for the next day’s meals. Yup, it burned on the bottom so you can imagine my
emotions them. Swear, yell, cry. Then I finally crashed. I took a nap that
lasted 3 hours in the deepest of sleep. When I woke dinner consisted of beef
broth (come to find out it has gluten in it- great) and my favorite strawberry
jello. (NOT) Snack consisted of ……yet more jello while my husband ate his yogurt
again while we watched Sons of Anarchy. Last
night I was looking at the diet and it said I could have milk with my steroids in
the morning. I was so excited I jumped in joy! Then I went to bed. I stay there
watching TV until my husband comes in because I can’t sleep. Then I go to the
Lazy Boy chair, watch Animal Planet (Big Foot and Rattlesnake Nation) Then
around 3 in the morning I say to FX!#K with this and take two Valium. Then I
head to bed at 4 am.
So it is morning. Go downstairs to find that the dog took a
dump on the floor. So that set me off but then I realize that maybe Teller
could not wake me up because I had taken the Valium So I didn't yell at him.
Took the dogs out to do their business and fed them and the cat breakfast. When
to get my breakfast of that nice COLD glass of milk that I have been looking
forward to with my prednisone which I wish were cookies instead. No FX!#KinG
milk! You must be kidding me! But what can I expect I do have a teenage son in the house, plus before I
went to the doctors I made the boys brownies so they have been scoffing them
down with milk. No vehicle and the store around the corner that I can walk to
closed down so guess I have to forget that this morning. At this point I am
jumping out of my skin. Arghh! Back to the cranberry juice I go. I am also pissed at myself because I wanted a
½ pot of coffee and I made a full pot- forgetfulness. (I hate waste – I don’t
even drink a ½ pot. Only 1 cup a day maybe.) So today I have a cranberry juice,
coffee and prednisone breakfast again.
Let’s see how the rest of this day pans out. If my creamy
liquid day goes well I can start my regular prednisone diet which at least
includes potatoes and eggs. On a good note my lungs are clearing up.
To be continue…… ~Kay
