Prednisone and it's wonderful side effects

I'm feeling a little guilty cuz I haven't done much on the t-shirt or the book front, but I've been really trying to get out and get stronger, and somehow the day's hours just slip away into oblivion. I keep wanting to have a sleep in the daytime too because sleeping at night is absolutely impossible (one of the pred side effects I hate the most) but again, I have no idea how it is possible for each day to slip away so supersonically and stealthily, but they do.

I finally coloured my hair today. The three strands left on my head (I'm exaggerating, but not by much) hadn't been coloured since before I got sick, and my hairdresser refuses to touch me while I'm on chemo, and I was starting to look a little witchy - just in time for Halloween. So thanks to my beautiful sistah, I now have a continuous brown hue around my head. Feeling a little better on the self esteem side of life but there's a loooooooooong way to go before I feel like my old self again. The trick thus far has been to avoid mirrors and pictures and any reflective surfaces, cuz on the inside I feel like Marta but on the outside there is no link between what I feel and what's there.

So I was talking to a friend today and was thinking about how little people know about the side effects of prednisone and or cyclophosphamide. So here goes...

Prednisone:

1. The most commonly known and most obvious is the bloating, moon face, and weight gain. This is for many reasons including water retention, the most ridiculous munchies you can imagine - a constant thought in my mind is food, and how to battle the urge to be constantly eating. It also plays a number on your muscles (muscle wasting and muscle pain - the heart is a muscle so that's something to keep an eye on), tendons and ligaments, and combined with being sick and not being able to exercise, this creates a nasty little circle - pardon the pun.
2. A false sense of increased energy on higher doses, and withdrawal and very low energy on lower doses during weaning.
3. Mood alterations - heightened moods in either direction (including what we Weggies call 'pred rage') This happens for a few reasons, but one of them is that prolonged high dose of pred stops the adrenal gland from functioning and in fact atrophies it - which creates a hormonal imbalance in the brain/body.
4. Insomnia - your body's tired but your mind wont let you sleep. This is the one that's been driving me batty since the beginning.
5. As well as having potent anti-inflammatory properties it is also an immunosurpressant, so normal things that people's body deal with on a regular basis without the body's owner even knowing are more tricky in this world. Thinks like thrush in your mouth, plantar warts, a cold, a cut or scrape on your skin and many many more.
6. An altered state of mind. Spacey and hyped up at the same time. Forgetfulness (way beyond what I thought was bad before I got sick) and hyped up all the time - empty running thoughts that are constantly going on and no way of putting on the brakes.
7. They're nasty on your stomach, but since I have no problem eating I always have food in my stomach before I take them, so - touch wood - I haven't experienced any problem with that so far.
8. My hair is stupid. The normal side effect of the steroids is to give you extra hair where you don't want it... which is happening, but it also changes the texture of my head hair, so what little I do have left (the cyclophosphamide - chemo drug - makes it fall out) is super scraggly.
9. Thins your skin - permanently.
10. Gives you funny little marks on your skin. I have a rash on my chest that the doc thinks is pred induced. Also those nasty little skin tags, yup, they like pred parties and are the guests that overstay their welcome.
11. A hump on your back. Right at the top of your back by the neck. It's really cool. Apparently the same thing happens on your shins, but I haven't noticed that yet.
12. Plethora - when you can see the subcutaneous vasculature because of the thinner skin - especially noticeable on the face - make that the moon face.
13. Stretch marks - I thank God this hasn't hit me yet, but with this it could be around the corner any day - apparently due to the thinning of the skin pred stretch marks can be the worst and have the lowest chance of going away to any degree.
14. Decrease in bone density and strength by limiting calcium absorption and altering the bone growth mechanism. This can cause brittle bones and osteoporosis.
15. Avascular necrosis - a rare but possible condition where the ends of certain bones where the blood flows in an opposite direction to most (hips, heels and hands) can die off. Not a good thing.
16. Eye problems. Glaucoma and cataracts can be induced by long term pred use.
17. Increased blood pressure
18. Increased risk for diabetes
19. and how could I forget the sweats... oh those sweats that creap up on you anywhere and soak your face and your clothes, yeah, there's the sweats too.

How's that for a barrel of monkeys?

So there, a miracle drug that treats so many things and treats them so well, but has this great list of side effects that make you look and feel your best - ha. It's what (along with cyclophosphamide - and in Wegener's Granulomatosis' case they have to go together - hand in hand or it doesn't work) is keeping me alive and able to hang out with the people I love, so side effects be damned, I'm upright and watching my family grow.

I was going to write about the side effects of the cyclophosphamide, but I've been typing for way too long now so maybe some other time.