One down, Four to go…My life on a five day steroid trip.

Today, March 11, is momentous for me. It is the first time in the history of my life with MS (Dx’d in 2005) that I’ve been given a round of corticosteroids for treatment of an exacerbation.

Blah.

I’ve been dreading this day.  I’ve heard very, very bad things about what steroids do to your body. How they make you nervous, dizzy, antsy, restless, awake, hungry, euphoric.

And then you crash.

BLAH.

Most times the prescription is an IV infusion of high dose solu-medrol. But my doc gave me a choice between IV infusion or oral tablets. I chose the tabs. No needles. No bags. No trip to the doctor for the first treatment. No nurses coming to my house to hook me up and monitor me and all the costs associated with that.  And no trying to keep a 10 month old out of mommy’s tubes. So there’s that.

After a minor hiccup at the pharmacy, (my doc told me they might give me trouble with the prescription because it’s such a high daily dose of powerful medicine) (they also “forgot” to place the order for my 50 mg tabs since the highest dose they stock is 20 mg tabs. We worked it out though and I took ten 20 mg tablets this morning, bluck) (but I digress) and $3.26 later (for serious, that’s all, y’all), I am now on 500 mg of Prednisone a day for 5 days.  I take 4 tabs in the morning, 3 at midday and 3 at night. Fun.

Day One down. Four to go.

So far. So good.

The day went well.  As expected, I have lots of energy, am more talkative, experienced some clumsiness and stumbling, and am still up at almost 2 in the morning, but I’m happy to report that I’m not excessively moody or voraciously hungry. In fact, it seems I’ve lost my appetite. I’m not hungry at all. I forced myself to eat all day. Because I knew I needed to. If you know me, you know I NEVER have to force myself to eat. EVER.

The good news is that at the end of day one, the pain that I was experiencing in my left eye (due to optic neuritis which is what got me in this mess in the first place) has markedly diminished. It’s still present, but nowhere near what it was just this time yesterday. I am still having difficulty with my focus in that eye, but it’s also slowly improving. Hopefully by the end of this treatment  I’ll have full vision restored and no more pain.

So I’m curious to see how I do as the meds build up in my system over the next 4 days. To see if anything changes. Will I become hungry or get the munchies? Will I be able to sleep? Will I become a royal b!tc#? And will I completely crash next week rendering me depressed, sleepy and completely useless?

The truth is, I just don’t know.

So if you see me this week (or next) and I seem a little off, now you know why. It’s not me. It’s the meds.

It really is.

I’m not looking for excuses, just asking for a bit of grace.

And maybe a little prayer.

The other really awesome thing about today is that my Mom came over to help out. To be present. To give me support. And just in case I had some horrible reaction to the medication at such a high dose. Thankfully, no medical intervention was necessary and we had a good time hanging out. Plus, she drove me around. You know, since I can’t see and all. After E’s afternoon nap we went to the pharmacy to pick up the rest of the medicine and then over to Target to buy some things. Like diapers. And toilet paper. You know, the important stuff.

Oh, in case you’re wondering, E’s pediatrician said I can still nurse him. So I am. But I’m watching him closely. And praying he’ll be okay.

And praying that I’ll be okay.

So far. So good.

p.s.  My friend Cory is riding in the BP MS 150. It’s a fundraiser bike ride from Houston to Austin in April and he is trying to raise $1,000 to benefit the National MS Society. If you want to support him, or other people like him who dedicate their time and effort to help raise much needed money for research and other wonderful things the NMSS does for people like me, then please visit his donation page. I know he’d be grateful. Donations are tax deductible and can be made anonymously and in any amount. Thank you for your support in the fight against MS. And thanks for helping Cory reach his goal.

p.p.s. It’s MS Awareness Week next week y’all! What a cowinkydink.