Even though Prednisone worked its magic on my stomach, I hope to never see it again. I have been weening off it for weeks and finally am at 0. And again, let me say "Woohoo!" So why you ask am I so grateful to be rid of the very drug that got me healthy again? Well, the side effects were not so fantastic. I knew what I was in for when I started the drug because I had been on it before, but that still doesn't make it any better. Over the last 6 weeks or so, these are some of the side effects that I experienced. I will not miss them in the least.
1. Profuse night sweats. I usually get overheated at night when I sleep, but on the steroids, it was intense. I had to change my pajamas in the middle of the night almost every night at the start of my treatment because I would sweat through them. My hair would be soaked also and I sweat through my sheets, pillow cases, and comforter. And if I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, which I did on more than one occasion, I had to try and get comfortable in my wet-ass bed. Ew. As I started to ween off the Prednisone this became less of an issue, but it really was super uncomfortable while it lasted.
2. Roid Rage. This is not just a saying. This happens. For reals. I didn't get it too bad but I was super irritable and really snappy at people. My fuse was short and little things that I normally wouldn't find annoying, annoyed the crap out of me. And things that people said or did that I normally would let slide or that just rubbed me the wrong way often were met with a snappy remark or a harsh tone. I tried to control this as much as I could but sometimes it just came out. I would try to just tell myself (and those that I snapped at) it was the drugs making me cray-cray and that would make me relax a bit, but I def was more on edge.
3. Talking to myself. Since I live alone I often sing to myself or talk to myself occasionally. It's not like I have full on conversations with myself. And I don't hear voices or anything like that. That would actually scare me a lot. (Some people do go a little insane while on this drug.) But this is me basically just making comments out loud that I would normally just say to in my head. I will do something stupid like walk into a table (this happens more than I'd like to admit) and be like "Ugh, what are you doing?" out loud to myself. Then I'd notice I was talking to myself and laugh at myself. So strange. I also would make up songs more often than usual while doing daily chores. There was my classic hit "I'm doing my laundry. I need quarters. Uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh." I have quite the lyric writing talent, huh? And I bet you can't even imagine the songs I made while washing dishes or while in the shower. Chart topping I tell you.
4. Mini crying spells. I am already someone that is super sensitive, but while on Prednisone the littlest things made me cry. I think the first week I was on it, I was crying like 5-6 times A DAY! Then I would stop, be okay, and something else would then set me off again later. It has gotten better, but can be embarrassing if I was just talking about something kind of sensitive and just bursting into tears when if I was my normal, unmedicated self, would most def be not be drawn to tears.
One example of me losing it was when I was home in Chicago a few weeks ago. My mom and I went to a friend's house who happened to have a Wheaton Terrier dog. This is the same kind that our dog Reggie was. Reggie has been gone for four months now and I know I am still very sad about losing him, but I didn't think that I would cry when I saw this dog. As soon as we walked in the house and I started petting the dog, I began to cry. I couldn't pull myself away from the dog, and couldn't keep the tears from coming. It was quite embarrassing, but I didn't care. Would this have happened without the 'roids? Maybe. But I blame them.
5. Lack of sleep. As someone who is used to 8-10 hours of sleep a night, I was maybe getting 4-6 hours a night of sleep on this drug. I would fall asleep at midnight at the earliest (so frustrating!! But at least Friends is on Nick at Night), wake up around 3:23, and usually fall back asleep only to wake up for good again at like 5:35 every day. Like clockwork. Then I would just lay in bed until my alarm went off for work. At the start of using this drug, I still didn't have the energy to get up and run, but toward the end, I would lay in bed just a little, then head out for a run.
6. Hyperactivity. You would think with so little sleep, I would be dead tired. So not the case. I did have terrible bags under my eyes, but I was super hyper a lot of the time. I would be exhausted but also have all this energy at the same time. Maybe it was from not working out and burning it off, but I just had so much energy, it was ridic. I was like the energizer bunny. I was walking fast. Talking really fast. Couldn't keep my brain from slowing down. But I did get a lot done. Yay to a huge spring cleaning! Boo to not being able to chill the F out. It's fine when I have stuff to do and can keep busy. It's not so fine when there isn't anything to do, or its rainy and gross outside. I was like a caged animal pacing my apartment.
7. Moon face. I didn't get this nearly as bad as the last time I was on Prednisone. I can't even look at pictures of myself from the last time. It was so disgusting how enormous my face was. I can't believe I even went out in public, let alone let anyone photograph me. This time I wasn't on as high of a dosage and for nearly as long, but I still saw the puffiness of my face. It was swollen. It was gross. For those that have read the entertainment news in the last few weeks, Ashley Judd got a lot of criticism over her new appearance, which happened to be from the use of steroids and not from plastic surgery. She is a classic example of someone with moon face. It's not a good look on anyone. If someone as beautiful as her can get criticized for it (even though she still looks fab!), imagine how I felt looking in the mirror everyday. Seeing this made me want to cry. Even more.
Although all of these side effects were pretty shitty, they were at least better than being in torturous pain and all the other graphic details I will leave out about my most recent Ulcerative Colitis flare-up. Once again, my friends were really supportive as I began to heal as they were when I was sick, and have been patient with my mood swings, crying spells, and side effects. I thank them for that. So, to you Prednisone, I say "Buh-Bye." I am kicking you to the curb. Hopefully for good.
Yeah that you are done with that horrendous drug, but thank god it exists! As I say it is the worst best drug ever.
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